Don't Sleep Until You're Dead
by SeaIng
Summary: The gang are astronauts and spend their first mission living in space for a month as part of a NASA experiment. However, things start to go awry when a murderous alien climbs on board, cutting off their control and communication for help. Will they be able to survive, or will they all die in the end? Just like Alien's tagline read, "In space, no one can hear you scream."
1. Bought the Ticket, Take the Ride

**So I know I still have another story going on, but I am not feeling motivated to write that so I thought I'd just write this one instead. It will have the pairings of Bade, Candre, and Rori. More info at bottom.**

**This was inspired by the 1979 sci-fi/horror film _Alien _that I've never actually seen so I'm not sure how many similarities/differences there are.**

**Disclaimer: Only in my dreams would I own Victorious.**

**Rated T for character death(s) and horror. There are several instances with violence/gore that may be inappropriate for younger viewers, so a warning will be included for those particular chapters.**

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CHAPTER 1  
Jade's POV

"Hello, my name is Jade Oliver, age thirty-one. I'm obviously a female, if you can't already tell. I have volunteered for the Live in Space program at NASA along with five others, one being my husband, Beck.

"The time is currently 0900 hours and we are headed towards the space station, _Berglemir_, in our rocket ship, the _Jovian_. The reason why I have chosen to participate on this trip is because number one: I want to be one of the first people to say I've lived in outer space for a month, and number two: I've trained seven years to become an astronaut and it's about dang time I got to do something that was in the job description."

Licking my lips, I adjusted the small camera placed in front of me and scanned my eyes over the piece of paper in my hands, figuring out what to say next for my first video diary entry.

"Um, I guess I'm really excited for this, except for the fact that I'll be spending the next thirty-one days with four other—"

"Hey, Jade! Are you done yet?" I heard a hiss behind me.

Turning around, I saw Tori Vega standing in the doorway of the tiny office, a manuscript clutched against her chest. "I'm doing it right now!" I shouted unnecessarily loud at her as she started walking towards me.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll come back later then." Tori backed up, banging into the shelf-covered wall and knocking over an entire box of oxygen masks, scattering them on the floor around us. "Ouch! Oops."

"My god, you're such a klutz," I said angrily, suddenly realizing this entire interruption had been caught on camera. Huffing through my nose, I pressed the off button and stood up, muttering, "Good lord, I'll just do the fricking thing later." Pushing my way past Tori, who was scrambling on the slick tiles to clean everything up, I trudged up to the cockpit.

_Who's stupid idea was it to do a video diary about our space travels anyway_? I thought listlessly. _There are five other people on this journey; does NASA really need one from each of us_?

As I entered the front cabin, the first thing I noticed was the giant curved window pane, revealing the gorgeous outside filled with bright stars. The control panel below it was covered in hundreds of switches, buttons, levers and monitors, giving off readings and status updates on our location and condition.

I weaved my way through the row of six seats, going up to the man in the co-pilot's seat; my husband, Beck. Reaching around to peck his helmet-covered cheek, I accidentally smeared lip gloss all over the shiny visor.

"Hey, honey," he greeted without giving me eye contact, keeping focus on avoiding meteors and other space junk.

"Hi, Jade," the pilot, a mop-haired man with big glasses and a friendly smile, addressed me as well.

"Keep your eyes on the stars, Shapiro," I informed him, turning around on my heel to face the seats located behind the captains. A dark-skinned man was strapped down to one, holding his redheaded girlfriend's hands in his own.

"Hello, Jadey," the redhead called.

"I told you a thousand times Cat, you can just call me Jade," I told the younger woman.

"But I think Jadey is cuter," she pouted, letting go of her boyfriend's hand.

"I'm not that cute of a person."

Cat stuck out her bottom lip and tucked her head in towards her chest, covering his face like she was ashamed. For someone who was thirty years old, she sure still acted like a baby.

"You're the most adorable person _I've _ever met," Beck said from the front. I shot him a grimace that he couldn't see with his head turned the other way.

"Jade, have you seen Tori?" Robbie asked me suddenly.

"Heck yes. She disrupted my video diary, so now I have to start all over," I told him, and I heard Beck sigh at my tone of voice. Oh screw him. I could be as moody as I wanted to if it involved that Vega chick.

I knew that Tori and I were not going to be very good friends as soon as I set eyes on her. She was my entire opposite. Always friendly, smiley, wore happy clothes, and was only looking at the good in a bad situation. I hated it.

But no matter how many curses I threw at her, no matter how many arguments I won, no matter how rude I was, she still treated me the same: like I was some sort of disabled child who was still trying to learn the basics. She would offer to help me even when I clearly had things under control; she would ask if I was doing okay in the flight simulator even when she was puking up her own guts; she would even come over and talk to me if I had gotten into a tiny argument with Beck.

After Tori hooked up with Robbie Shapiro three years ago, I expected to see a difference but she didn't change in the slightest.

Cat Valentine on the other hand was as adorable as any thirty-year-old could come. She was even happier than Tori; sometimes so much it made me sick. Cat respected me and obviously loved me like a sister, which I was perfectly okay with. We were best friends. And even her boyfriend, André Harris, was a pretty cool and calm dude, reminding me of Beck sometimes.

"How much longer until we're at _Berglemir_?" Cat asked in her high-pitched voice.

"Probably midnight," Beck replied.

"Kay kay. I'm going to use the bathroom now." Cat unstrapped herself hurriedly from the seat and stood up, shaking wobbly before gaining her balance.

"Be careful," André said.

"Don't get sucked into the toilet," I told her.

"Kay kay!" she squealed again before making her way down to the restroom. I took her spot, not bothering to put on the complicated harness that was your only source of comfort during landings or takeoffs.

I watched Beck as he concentrated on the controls, his eyebrows narrowed and lips pressed tightly together. André had decided to take a very short nap while his girlfriend was in the bathroom; his eyes were already closed and head leaned back.

Just then, Tori entered the cockpit, looking slightly flustered.

"Thanks for helping me clean up, Jade," she growled as she walked past me.

"What? It was your mess anyway."

She pointedly ignored me and went up to Robbie, without a word kissing the side of his head. I saw the fat diamond engagement ring glinting on her finger and looked down at my own, instead seeing Beck's wedding ring, given to me six years ago.

"Come on, girls; don't fight. We're going to be together for the next month and I don't want to start it off on a bad note, okay?" Beck reprimanded us.

"Yeah, Jade," Tori snorted.

"Shut up," I responded, leaving my 'friends' and going down to the living quarters of the _Jovian_. Our spaceship wasn't very big, but it was nice enough to accommodate six people reasonably. Luckily, we'd only need to be here for another few hours before arriving at _Berglemir_, where we'd be staying for the next month as part of the Live in Space program.

Muttering to myself and using awkward hand motions, I didn't see where I was going and a flash of red ran straight into me.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, Jade! I'm so sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Cat spewed out in a torrent of words as I blinked up at her from my place on the floor.

"I won't hurt you if you'll just shut up," I seethed at her. Cat covered her face and ran past me, no doubt with tears streaming down. I sighed and got up, shaking off the emotions of making my best friend cry. That was Cat for you. Still extremely childish and sensitive to almost anything and everything you said or did to her. Nonetheless, she was still a really good person once you got past that part.

I entered the girls' bedroom and sat down on the first cot, placing my hands in my lap. I probably should've been up in the front socializing with my fellow 'astronauts,' but to be honest; I wasn't really into that kind of thing. Especially since most people bugged me in some way or another.

Just then, the door opened up, and someone walked in. I expected it to be Tori, but I was wrong.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Beck came in and sat next to me. I moved to sit in his lap, locking my hands behind his neck, leaning close to his chest. Even in these NASA-issued suits made out of specialized materials and dorky colors, I could still smell his familiar scent through the thick fabric.

"Why aren't you in the cockpit?" I questioned.

"It's set on autopilot, and anyway, Robbie and André are watching in case we run into any trouble, which shouldn't happen, because we're nowhere near any asteroid belts," he explained, kissing my cheek.

"Okay."

"Yep," he sighed, rubbing his thumb across my arm. "No turning back now."

"What? Are you afraid to in space for one month with four strangers?" I challenged.

"Those guys are our best friends, not strangers."

"Fair enough. So what is it, then?"

Beck ran a hand through his hair. It was probably my most favorite feature of his body: thick and luscious, almost like a dark brown lion's mane surrounding his perfect face. Over the years it had slowly started to thin out, especially under the stress of our training missions, but its color never altered.

Since he wasn't answering, I decided to do it for him. "Or do you believe that an alienis going to come onboard and hurt us?"

"No!" his answer was forced and loud. "Well, I mean, it could be possible…but I don't think so. This is an experiment project, Jade. We're all guinea pigs. Anything could go wrong, anything could happen…"

"Are you saying I shouldn't have come on this trip because I won't be able to handle it? We trained at NASA for a freaking seven years; I'm pretty sure I can handle an E.T. if he dared mess with me," I argued, leaning back as his arms came around me.

"That's not what I meant, you know that."

"Then why did you bring it up?"

"I didn't! You're always the one to start it!"

Silence.

"All right," I said in a small voice, trying to force out the words I always hated to use, "Never mind; I'm sorry." In a brighter tone, I added, "But I will always love you very much, Mr. Oliver."

"Me too, Mrs. Oliver." He kissed me on the lips. "Well, I'd better go and make sure the guys don't screw anything up. Are you going to stay here by yourself or do you want me to send Tori or Cat…?"

"By myself, thank you for asking."

Beck snapped his fingers. "Of course. When we get to the station though, you'll need to come and strap up for the landing."

"Whatever, Beck."

"I love you," he said one last time before pushing me gently off his lap and leaving, the door slamming solidly behind him.

"And I love you too," I murmured to no one.

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"Jadey! Jadey wake up!"

Someone was shaking me hard by the shoulders. I opened my eyes sleepily and saw the small redhead standing over me.

"Whatisit?"

"We're here at _Berglemir_. Beck says all passengers have to be in the cockpit before we can connect to the station," Cat explained quickly. I sat up, trying to adjust to the bright light streaming down from the center of the ceiling. "Hurry, Jadey!"

"Stop calling me that," I retorted as she towed me out of the room and towards the cockpit. Beck and Robbie were fidgeting wildly with the controls, their eyes scanning up and down the colored panels. Tori and André were sitting down next to each other, the harnesses strapped across their chests.

That left me and Cat in the last row behind them.

I sat in the seat, pulling the center circle piece over my head, the two straps attached to the top resting on my shoulders. There were three others I needed to connect to the circle: one in between my legs and two around my sides. Fumbling with the buckles and tangled belts, I managed to harness myself in successfully.

"Everyone okay?" Robbie called.

"Yes," we all mumbled.

"All right, we're taking her in."

"Trina Vega, come in, Trina Vega, the _Jovian _is now hooking to _Berglemir_," Beck said to our captain on Earth, who happened to also be Tori's older sister. It was Trina's job to help monitor everything from both the ship and station, and also let us know what was happening down there.

"Trina Vega to the _Jovian_, you are clear," came Trina's voice.

The _Jovian _started vibrating, causing us to slide around in our chairs. That was why we needed to wear such a complex harness—you had no idea if you were going to go left, right, up, down, forward, backwards. Beck was hollering some sort of code words to Robbie as the spaceship turned sharply to the left. I looked around Vega's head to see the dark night sky out the window, dotted with shining stars.

The _Berglemir_, a round, huge space station built on Earth but launched into space, was floating steadily and not moving from its position, almost like it was being held in place by an invisible force. The view of the magnificent structure got bigger and bigger as we moved closer.

Cat squealed in awe and started giggling. My mouth was gaping.

Beck took a lazy turn towards the right, and I saw the huge door that would join to ours, allowing us to enter the station from our ship.

"Steady her, Rob," Beck muttered.

"On it." Robbie pushed a few buttons and the _Jovian _lurched flat. Slowly and surely, we glided towards the entrance of the _Berglemir_. Finally, with one last push, the two doors connected with a loud hiss.

"We made it," Beck confirmed.

No one made a noise as we gathered our bags and got ready to leave the _Jovian_. Robbie stayed to open up the door as we made our way towards it

"The adventure awaits," André murmured mystically as both portals simultaneously slid upwards and to allow entry.

Beck took my hand and said, "We bought the ticket. Now let's take the ride."

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**I hope you like it so far. In this chapter, I just kind of establish how the gang are doing and stuff, so obviously there's not going to be much action/violence/horror. BUT if you stick with me for at least the next chapter, things get pretty crazy. }:)**

**Hopefully everyone will be in character, and if it seems kind of weird that they still act like teenager when they are adults, well, some people never change, what can I say? XD**

**Okay. So I don't want to sound pushy, but...review? For the Bade, Candre, and Rori that will expand in further chapters? ;)**


	2. Hit and Run

**Yay! Second chapter! I just want to let you guys know that...some very important event happens...maybe you'll catch it...maybe you won't. }:)**

**Lots of love to my first reviewer: infinitymagicalstars. ;D**

**Oh...and in case anyone is wondering...there's not going to be any sex/smut or whatever it's called in this story. Sorry, but I'm not really comfortable writing that...let alone reading it...**

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CHAPTER 2  
Jade's POV

"Wow this place is _huuggee_," I said, my eyes traveling up the walls and ceiling, painted a creamy white along with the polished, gleaming floor. Just taking a few steps forward, I noticed that it was waxed and Beck actually slipped, grabbing onto André's shoulder and almost taking him down as well.

"Hee hee," Cat giggled from behind in her adorable way.

"I'm going up to the main control room. You want to come with me, Beck?" Robbie appeared out of nowhere. He had his bags in one hand, his other around Tori's waist, her head leaning against his shoulder.

"Nah. I want to do some exploring with Jade first."

"Aw. You're so sweet, babe." Beck smiled as he leaned over to kiss me.

"On the ship or…?" André began.

I smacked the back of his head and he bent forward, coughing to hide his fit of laughter while Cat stood there looking extremely confused. Tori stuck her tongue out as Robbie guided her towards the left of the T-junction hall and they disappeared around the corner.

"Come on, dear." Beck took my hand and led me to the right, leaving Cat and André to either go whichever way they chose. "If I can remember correctly the rooms are supposed to be a few halls down—"

"Forget the rooms; I want to go take a look around the station," I whined, tugging on his arm like a little girl. "We've only seen this place in photos and holograms, so now that we're here for real, I think it deserves our attention more than the cruddy living quarters."

Beck bit his lip, almost looking disappointed. "But I was just wondering if you—"

"No. Not right now, at least." He sighed and I started walking a few feet ahead of him, my black space boots clomping against the floor. Everyone else had white ones (with the exception of Cat's being pink) but I refused to wear such boring colors that didn't match my personality at all. However, it was a requirement to wear at least a white jacket and pants, so they just stood out a lot more than necessary.

The circular lights mounted up above gave us a welcoming glow as we trudged down the passage, peeking into each door we came across. We found the sleeping divisions, being three separate rooms, so Beck put our stuff down in one of them. I noticed that almost every area with a closed entrance had two doors with a small foyer in the middle, creating an 'airlock' to prevent pressure from increasing or decreasing inside if something were to happen to the rest of the station.

_Berglemir _proved to be a lot nicer than I ever would have expected; it was almost like a hotel without the staff and so many other guests. There was a garden space to provide us with new oxygen, since wearing masks and tanks twenty-four-seven would be extremely unpractical.

"Hey, look at all the fresh food we can get too," Beck pointed out as we went through the empty rows separating the tables of potted plants. "What's this…carrots…broccoli…ew, spinach…never mind. This all sounds kind of nasty."

"Yeah, maybe to a little kid," I joked as we took hands and left.

"I'm fully mature and nowhere near little-kid-level," Beck said indignantly.

"Whatever you say."

We probed around the rest of _Berglemir_, which unfortunately wasn't as big as I thought either. The areas that we could visit safely, in total size was about as big as football field, only spread out into a maze of halls and separate rooms. However, with the propellers, jets and wings keeping us from drifting off into a different galaxy, the amount was added up to almost twice as big.

Robbie and Tori were in the 'control room,' which was basically just another cockpit, but with much less buttons and more screens, showing cameras dispersed all over the craft and also one big monitor where we could talk to Trina and NASA workers back on Earth.

"Did you figure it out already, Rob?" Beck asked.

"Yeah. It's pretty basic," Robbie told my husband and they both started conversing about technical, _nerd _stuff. Beck didn't seem look like a guy who would be so interested in the mechanics of a mega space station, but then again, there was more than meets the eye.

When I first met him during my junior year of college, I was attracted to him for many different reasons. Not only was he a bad boy to my bad girl, but he was also extremely good-looking and after we started talking to each other and found out we had a lot in common, we ended up dating, and almost ten years later, here we are now.

"We're not in orbit yet," Beck said suddenly. I heard footsteps behind me and turned to see Cat and André, holding hands as they walked up.

"I was waiting for you. And I need to ask Trina."

"Ooo, can I talk to my sister too?" Tori asked, jumping up and down while holding her fiancé's hand.

"Um, maybe. First we've got business to do, you know that." Robbie kissed her lightly on the cheek as Beck started to push some buttons. I sat down on a bench next to Cat and André, who were leaned towards each other, murmuring and giggling. They were quite the cute couple, I had to admit.

"Trina Vega, come in, Trina Vega. This is Beck Oliver reporting from _Berglemir_."

"Hello, Beck!" Trina's face popped up on the center screen, her head larger than normal. Then again, it did support her diva-like personality tenfold. "How are you all doing?"

"Hi, Trina!" Tori waved up at her sister in a childish manner.

"Whuddup, sister?"

"Chat later. We actually need to be doing something right now," I told Tori, gesturing to what Robbie had said earlier, and she frowned, upset that I had interrupted into her four-word conversation with her sister.

"She's right," André agreed with me as he came closer to watch with Cat by his side.

"Okay, fine." Trina sighed, and turned her head away, tapping filling the soft air. "Take _Berglemir _in an orbit around the moon. The coordinates should already be set; you just need to enter the password, which is 1129514."

"Got it." Robbie bent over and punched the code into a keypad.

Suddenly, I felt the huge space station shifting towards the right. With a squeak, Cat toppled but André caught her before she hit the ground. I grabbed Beck's arm tightly, and he pulled me into a hug.

"Whoa!" I heard Tori yell.

"Hang on, everyone!" Robbie said, his hands on the 'steering wheel.' "I'm trying to steady us out!"

"Well you're not doing a very good job!" I screamed at him.

Suddenly, there was a loud, beeping noise that almost deafened me immediately. A red light filled the room, blinking back and forth from white to crimson. The door to the cockpit shut, and I could hear it locking shut.

"What happened?" Beck looked up at Robbie desperately, but did not let go of me.

Trina had an expression of concern on the monitor.

"We've been hit!"

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"Hit?" That was enough for Beck to get up, dragging me along.

"Yes. Left storage room. The window is shattered. We need to fix it before we start losing our supplies."

"I thought this thing was built to withstand extreme forces of space," I argued to Trina.

"It is!" she replied. "Something really heavy must've hit it then. You'd better get it fixed before space junk starts flying in."

"I'll go," Beck volunteered immediately, stalking over to the exit and unlocking the heavy door.

"I'm coming too. You always go with a buddy." He smiled as I looped my arm in his.

"Go get the suits and tools in the equipment room," Robbie said, madly pressing random buttons on the dashboard. André had gone up to help him out, and so had Tori. Cat was sitting on the floor like a child, staring at them with her big brown eyes. "Thankfully the double-doors will hold off the vacuum of space so it doesn't suck the entire ship out the window. But you should still hurry."

"Got it. Come on, sweetie."

Beck dragged me out into the hall. We made our way down to one of the two equipment rooms where the materials meant for going out into space were kept. I fitted on a bulky helmet and oxygen tank and helped Beck with his. Pulling on gloves and taking ropes to anchor us down to the station so we wouldn't drift away, we left in a hurry.

"Left storage room, left storage room, left storage room," Beck kept murmuring to himself.

"Yes. I know where it is so you don't have to keep repeating it," I said.

He shook his head.

We finally came to the door leading to the room which held a lot of our food and other life necessities. Beck looped the rope through the buckles on my suit jacket, tying me down to him and also the handle of the door. He handed me a sheet of thick glass, a welding tool and knife. I tied the objects to my belt so they wouldn't drift away while I was working.

"I trust you. If anything goes wrong, yell 'Butternut' and I'll be there, okay?"

"_Please_," I said, putting heavy emphasis on the word. "I'm not a little klutz like Vega, or a child like Cat."

"Hey. Those girls are great in their own ways."

"And that's why you married me."

I shot him my infamous raised-eyebrow scowl and opened the door, pulling in the rope with me before closing it. There was a second door that would release all of the pressure locked behind it. Slowly, I wrenched on the handle and it swung out, permitting me entry.

Boxed goods on the shelves were either knocked onto the floor, floating in the air, or stuck in the foot-long, ten-inch wide gap crossing the surface of the compact window. Stepping my way over the supplies as I started to levitate slightly, I kept the rope taut and dropped my tools.

Carefully, I pushed out the trash, which was sucked away instantly. I felt the pull of gravity, and if it hadn't been for my anchor, I could've gotten my head stuck in the gap, and not have had the strength to yank it out.

I lifted up the chunk of tinted glass, placing it against the gap. Using the welding gun, I secured the piece down where the edges met the exact alignment of the hole, and suddenly, there was a loud noise as everything came crashing to the ground, including me.

Not daring to take my helmet off, I used the sharp knife and cut off the excess edges of the glass where it stuck out more than other sides. I smoothed my hand across my handiwork, admiring how it was clean and almost like it had never been broken in the first place.

Gathering up my things, as I was bent over, I noticed that a grate on the air vent had been knocked off and was sitting on it lopsidedly. Reaching out with my foot, I nudged it back into place, and it settled down with a thud.

There was a sudden click from the door and I saw Beck's form entering. His head moved back and forth under the dark helmet and as he took in the mess and me. Then he saw the window, looking as normal as ever.

"Good job, babe. I'm impressed."

"Why? Didn't think I was capable of such a good job?"

"Not at all." His arms wrapped around me as he lifted me off the floor. Beck approached the pane, running his gloved fingers all over it. "How big was the hole?"

"About a foot wide by ten-inches long," I reported.

"I wonder what could've caused that kind of damage. You didn't see anything unusual in here, did you? Like maybe part of a meteor or asteroid?"

"Nope."

"Well good. Something probably just grazed us, that's all."

"Uh-huh."

"All right, babe." Beck took my hand and led me towards the exit. "Let's go and tell the others then."

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**Not too much energy and excitment, unfortunately. But don't worry. It's all going to build up and then explode all at once. Mwahaha.**

**Review! :)**


	3. Breaking Down

**I have suddenly realized that I've been posting this with the wrong rating (M was for my Rade story, not Bade) the entire time. However, there are still several occurrences that may be disturbing to some people, so I will specifically give you a warning for those chapters, which there aren't a lot of, fortunately. This chapter has nothing too extreme, but the next one definitely will.**

**Please enjoy this newest chapter. :)**

**And special thanks once again to: infinitymagicalstars.**

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CHAPTER 3  
Jade's POV

"Good job, Beck," André greeted when we entered the cockpit.

"And you too, Jadey!" Cat said, her voice so full of happiness it made me sick.

"Thank you, although my beautiful wife here did do most of the work." Beck addressed them, nudging the side of my head with his in an adoring fashion. Once we had finished cleaned up the storage room as best as we could, Beck and I left the suits to dry and came back up here.

"Yeah. We were watching from one of these monitors that suddenly the pressure in the storage room went down; I guess that was when you sealed up the glass, right?" André patted my shoulder, smiling like a father proud of his own daughter.

Tori and Robbie were talking to Trina through the center monitor still. I knew for a fact that Trina actually had a crush on Robbie, even though he had announced a month ago that he would be marrying her sister.

But then again, Trina had also been hitting on Beck until he proposed to me, and it was only until after our honeymoon that she finally gave up. She was so desperate for a boyfriend, it was laughable. She might be quite smart, but she was so full of herself and would never take any criticism into consideration. It's no wonder she hasn't had a date since _iCarly _ended.

"For the next thirty days, you will remain in orbit around the moon," Trina explained. "Just live your life as normally as you always have. We'll be helping observe your progress from down here. If anything were to go wrong, whether it's one of you or _Berglemir _itself, exit out into the _Jovian _and fly back down here. Don't forget what you learned during your seven years of training.

"The procedures are the same as you've always practiced on Earth. One person always needs to monitor the controls up front, and make sure you all know where each other are at all times. Be careful going down to the basement room; don't open any loose hatch that seems unsafe on the other side—"

"We know, Trina. Stop being so bossy," Tori sulked.

"All right, well if you need anything, I'll be right here. And if I'm not…then Sinjin will be. Do you all remember who he is?"

Oh I certainly did. The lanky, six-foot-one, Robbie look-alike who really, _really _liked me. Sinjin Van Cleef was extremely creepy (he kept a collection of 'food he never digested' on his work desk) and like to follow me around, especially if Beck wasn't there. Just thinking about the memories brought a shudder to my shoulders.

"Yes," we all answered.

"Good. I'll log off for now to leave you guys in peace. Have fun!"

"I'm going to take a nap," I said immediately once the oldest Vega's head was off the screen. No one shot me any looks as I left the cockpit.

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It had been almost a week since we first arrived on _Berglemir_, and I have to admit, we were actually getting along quite well. The food was okay, most of it just being flavored powder with water added in a vacuum-sealed pouch, but since Cat would attend nonstop to the garden, I had a feeling we would be able to eat something healthier (and tastier) soon.

We had no cable, cell phone service, or Internet. _Berglemir _connected directly to satellites so we could communicate with Trina, but I never wanted to talk to her anyway so that was pointless.

I spent a lot of the time walking around or staying with Beck in our room. On occasion, I hung around André, with whom I usually had a nice chat with, and also Cat. Tori I tried to avoid as much as possible, and Robbie kept himself in the cockpit all day so I couldn't really get to him anyways.

One of the biggest obstacles anyone needed to overcome to stay in outer space was being able to keep yourself occupied. It was easy to go insane in a confined space for a long time, even if you were surrounded by some of your closest friends.

The NASA workers on Earth insisted we send them a video diary every day, which I hated doing but it helped me think straight at least once, and sometimes they would relay responses that were supposed to be funny but I never laughed.

André and Beck visited the tiny gym located in one area of the 'basement' to work out and do something physical for a change. I went there once with Cat, but it was extremely cramped and when she couldn't keep up on the treadmill she slipped and flew off straight into me. It took all my strength not to kill her; and afterwards I marched upstairs by myself and went to bed.

Tori and Robbie were in their own little world inside the cockpit. Sometimes, out of sheer boredom I'd go up and peek inside. They were sitting in the pilot seats, holding hands, facing each other and talking quietly. I almost puked on many occurrences. It was just…so awkward to watch, not that anyone asked me to.

"Hey, Jadey, do you want to come and help me water the garden?" Cat asked as she stood in the doorway of Beck and my bedroom.

"No." I didn't even look at her.

"Please! André went with me yesterday but now he's hanging out with Beck. I don't want to go by myself."

"What could you possibly be afraid of?" I countered, propping myself up on the single, floppy pillow and trying to read from my PearPad.

"Last time I went I heard noises coming from the floor."

"So? Maybe you're gaining weight and the sounds were just your footsteps," I said, knowing perfectly well that the woman probably only weighed like ninety pounds.

"You're so mean to me!" Cat left the room in a burst of tears.

I sat up, my hair falling down my face and brushing my cheeks. "I was kidding, Cat! I'm sorry!" The words blurted out of my mouth without warning. Suddenly, I stood up, chasing after my best friend before I had another second to think about. "Come back!"

I found Cat hiding in the hallway, curled up in a little ball and sniffling hard.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," I said, sitting down next to her and crossing my legs.

"Then what did you mean?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to make a joke."

"Okay!" The tears stopped abruptly and she smiled at me. My eyebrows came together as I stared at her. It was almost frightening how fast her mood could change. "Now will you come with me to the garden?"

"Fine."

She took my hand and led me in the direction. I could feel her fingers touching the expensive jewelry wrapped around my own. "Ooo, Jadey, I like your ring."

"Thank you."

"I wish André would give me one like yours. But I don't think he's ready to take it that far yet," she added in a small voice and I squeezed her hand in a comforting way, not wanting to say anything that might ruin the mood.

We arrived at the open-room garden and the plants actually did look like they were growing, even if it was just a little. Cat went over to a box mounted on the wall and opened it up, pressing a button, and suddenly, I saw a small stream of recycled water traveling through the irrigation system set up in the pots, bringing them their daily dose of nutrients.

"Isn't that really cool?" Cat asked, smiling joyfully.

"Very," I replied, not bothering to tell the girl what I really thought. _It's so cool that one day we're going to eat plants that grew using our own pee filtrated into water_.

"Do you want to fertilize the plants, Jadey?"

"No." _And stop calling me that_.

"But it's really fun!" Cat waved the watering can-shaped device in her hands, and I shook my head. Heaving a big sigh, Cat proceeded to spray the tops of the vegetation carefully; when she was finished she set the container down and stood back by the box. "Okay, now I need to adjust the temperature of the lights and I'm done."

Looking up at the ceiling, the overheard lamps adjusted brighter and dimmer, according to which way Cat was turning the knob. Suddenly, they blinked and shut themselves off completely.

"Wait…why did you turn them off?"

"I didn't." Cat furiously twisted the disc.

I looked down at my body, noticing that my suit was emanating some sort of green ghoulish glow. Then I remembered that depending on which type of material we were wearing, it would glimmer if it got dark, allowing us to find each other, especially if we were in the bare outer space.

Cat's eyes, as I could see from her orange glow, were big and filled with fear.

"Come on. Let's find the others."

She took my arm and held it tightly as we made our way to the cockpit. It had gotten unnaturally cold, and I tried to keep from shivering, knowing that it would only scare Cat more.

"Jade? Cat?"

We turned around at the sound of our names. Beck (who appeared to be blue) and André (who was yellow) rushed up to us. Beck scooped me into his arms and I pressed his face against my shoulder, breathing in the recognizable scent of his hair. André was holding Cat in a similar manner.

"Are you guys okay? Anyone hurt?" he asked, pulling away.

"Wow, Beck. Because you can totally get hurt when the lights turn off," I responded sarcastically.

"I'm serious. Did you trip or anything?"

"Why don't you ask that to Vega?"

André shook his head, his arm protectively around his smaller girlfriend. "We were just coming to find you both when all the lights went out. Anyone have an idea of what happened?"

"No. We were going to the cockpit to find out."

"Okay. Tori and Robbie ought to be there."

And so the four of us, each gripping our partner's hand tightly, made our way up the front. The door to the cockpit was closed and Beck banged on it furiously.

"I thought this entire place was solar-powered," André commented as we waited.

"It is," Beck replied grimly, "unless something happened to either the panels themselves or the wires in the energy room."

The energy room was located underneath the cockpit, and pretty much without it, the _Berglemir _would be screwed. It held all of the giant machines that kept our space station afloat, as well as was the main source for all the electrical wiring, water filtration and many other important pieces of equipment.

"Who is it?" Tori's voice squeaked from the other side.

"Your mom!" I yelled back irritably. Beck put his hand on my shoulder.

"It's Beck, Jade, Cat and André."

There was some mumbling on the other side as we waited patiently. I glanced over and saw Cat huddled into André, her face buried in his arm and he was petting the top of her red velvet-colored hair. Beck's hand squeezed my shoulder lightly.

"I don't know how to get the door open." That was Robbie's voice.

"What? You just pull on the handle, Shapiro!"

"Jade, it's a double-door, remember?" Beck spoke to me kindly like I was a child. My eyes grew big in anger at his tone of voice. "And I think the power needs to be on in order for it to unlock."

"Then turn it on and let us in!" I shouted, almost frantically.

"I'm trying! Stop yelling at me!"

"You think this is yelling? Wait until you see me—" Beck's hand came in front of my face and I flinched, thinking he was going to cover my mouth with it. Instead, he stroked the side of my cheek while whispering the word 'shush.' _Okay, fine. We'll just wait here for another half-hour until those nitwits figure out how to flip a light switch_.

We grew quiet, listening to the to-be husband and wife argue.

"Just press the light switch!"

"I am!"

"Harder!"

"I AM! And stop yelling at me!"

There were more shuffling noises, and Tori sounded frustrated. Good. They were trapped in that little room, and we had the entire station to explore if there was no possible way to turn on the _solar power _and let us in.

"Try the emergency power button," Robbie exhaled.

Suddenly, the lights turned on, and we all sighed in relief. The buzzing sound, indicating that we were slowly regaining power, filled the air. There was a hiss and the doors opened, revealing a red-faced Robbie and pale Tori.

"Why was that so hard?" I snarled at the woman.

She frowned but said nothing as we piled in.

The control room was a complete mess of annoying, blinking, flashing lights. Other than that, it was deathly quiet. No beeping, no humming, no nothing.

"Everything is working through the emergency power system," Robbie informed us.

The emergency power system, or EPS, was the back-up for _Berglemir _in case its main wires were damaged of some sort. Because we had solar panels, we technically couldn't run out of actual energy, but if the system that converted the power was broken, it was pretty much as good as useless.

"I'll go down to the energy room to check what's happened, although I can't imagine why this is happening," Robbie mused, stepping towards the exit.

"I want to go with you," Tori said suddenly, chasing after him.

"No, you should stay up here. It's quite dangerous down there."

Tori stubbornly refused, and realizing he had entered a battle he could not win, Robbie took her hand and they disappeared together. Beck sat down in the pilot seat and André did the same to the co-pilot's.

"Geez, we're not even getting a signal to our satellites or Earth. I think something more than broken wiring happened down there," André observed, tapping and clicking random buttons.

"What happens if they can't figure out what's wrong? It's not like we can communicate with anyone, can we?" Cat asked worriedly.

"I don't know, baby. I just don't know."

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**Uh-oh! And their troubles begin...mwahahahaha. }:)**

**Hope you liked it!**


	4. It Begins

**I meant to update this yesterday (because I got my mac back :D) but then I got involved in other things so I didn't have enough time to edit properly.**

**How many of you heard Victorious got cancelled? I will now spend the rest of my life crying in a hole. :'(**

**Anyway, thanks to two reviewers this time: Katie and infinitymagicalstars.**

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT THAT MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.**

**Hahaha, I sound like one of those TV reporters on Animal Planet. XD**

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CHAPTER 4  
Tori's POV

Robbie handed me a flashlight before pushing open the door to the energy room. He went down the stairs first, his suit causing him to glow purple and I followed behind, my clothes giving off a red color.

I saw the silhouettes of giant machines stacked built as high as the ceiling, blinking with dots and shaking with buzzing noises. I shined the flashlight on the ground, noticing the black-and-yellow caution tape directing a clear path through all the chaos.

It was also incredibly warm down here. Tugging at the collar of my shirt and scratching my forehead, it was probably due to the machines using up so much power and sending off steams of heat. That may be why there was no light switch down here, because they could make things even hotter if turned on.

"Robbie, where are you?"

"Right over here, babe."

My flashlight revealed that he was standing a mere twelve feet in front of me, and I relaxed a little. My fiancé disappeared behind a wall of machines and I kept looking around myself.

"What are we supposed to find?"

"If there's any cut wires or anything that looks 'wrong.' It's a lot hotter than it should be down here, so something is obviously not right." I hadn't been the only to notice the change in temperature. I began to feel a little bit scared myself.

Looking around in the dull glow of the flashlight, I noticed that there was a thin trail on the floor that reflected the light like a mirror. Interested, I knelt down to take a closer look. Crawling on my knees, I followed the path up to a small box mounted to the ground.

I lifted up the top carefully, seeing the complex maze of wires and spinning discs inside that had been cut and jammed almost brutally, the noises sounding rusty and screechy.

"Robbie?" I called, wanting to get his attention. This box was probably the cause of our power loss. "Robbie?" I repeated, becoming slightly concerned. Staying quiet, I made my way in the direction that he had disappeared, being very cautious of my surroundings.

As I turned the corner, I shone the flashlight across the room.

And the sight I saw almost made me pass out.

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Robbie's POV

After giving Tori her own flashlight, I went ahead of her to take a look around myself. It was uncomfortably warm in here, which could be dangerous to the jobs of the machines. If they were to overheat and shut down, we would be complete goners.

Leaving my soon-to-be wife behind, I went down through the lined roads, examining each and every mechanism carefully. Some of them were giant toolboxes with dozens of drawers full of cords and other complicated rotating parts, while others were full-out, encased boxes lighting up from the inside.

"Robbie, where are you?" Tori's voice jolted me in the dark.

"Right over here, babe," I responded calmly. She seemed satisfied and stayed quiet after that.

So far everything seemed to be right in place. I made my way around the corner, continuing my careful examinations. As I was kneeled on the floor, attending to one particular piece of equipment, I felt something tap my shoulder.

Turning around and flashing my light, Tori was not there.

Curious, I stood up. Something hit me again, and I realized it was coming from above in the maze of air vents and rafters meant to cool down the energy room. I reached up and touched my shoulder, bringing my hand in front of my face and realizing it was covered in some sort of thick, odorless goo.

_What the heck_?

I went to shine my light upwards, but something strong caught my wrist, forcing it back down by my side. Panicking but remaining silent, I lifted my other arm, but another tentacle of some sort caught it.

Raising my head and looking straight up, unable to see anything but the two slimy arms that were holding me captive, I realized I needed to get Tori's attention immediately. I opened my mouth to scream and just then a third tentacle came down, shooting straight past my teeth and down my throat.

I let out a gurgled scream, bucking back and forth as I felt the arm slithering towards my stomach. My hands curled into fists; I couldn't breathe around the intrusion, I tried to reach up and stop whatever was doing this to me, but I wasn't strong enough to do so.

The little hand at the end of the creature's arm suddenly tightened up, and I felt a wave of vomit rush up my esophagus, but it couldn't exit because the arm was blocking my mouth. I choked violently as the hand tugged on something inside of my body.

I heard the rip before I felt it.

It was the most agonizing thing I've ever felt in my life.

I wanted to scream, but couldn't. My intestines were being ripped out from their places in my stomach.

Through the horrible pain and the fact that I couldn't breathe without swallowing my own bile, my left thumb reached underneath my fingers to touch the silver engagement ring.

_I'm sorry, Tori. Just get out of here and save yourself. I'm sorry we never got to finish what we started_.

Tears filled my eyes, and everything became blurry. I caught sight of an open mouth, long teeth dripping with saliva, leaning closer and closer to my face.

And then I fell into the world of darkness.

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Tori's POV

Robbie was standing right in the middle of the contained lane, staring up at the ceiling. I saw that his arms were down by his sides; his fingers were twitching wildly, almost like he was making a struggle and losing.

And then I noticed the slimy paw wrapped around his wrist, which was what was holding him down. I couldn't scream even though I was scared for my life. I was frozen in the sheer shock of what was happening; I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Then I moved the flashlight higher up his body so I could see his face.

Big mistake.

He was looking up at the ceiling only because he had a third similar alien-tentacle forced into his mouth. I saw it wriggling back and forth, traveling deeper down his throat. The sight made me sick and weak at the knees.

Robbie had no idea that I was standing here; I felt like I no longer had control of my body. I was so scared to do anything. It was like my brain had shut down as I watched the horrific act happening to the love of my life.

He started choking, and I saw vomit and blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth in a thin, steady stream. My head was spinning like crazy, but I couldn't move my arms fast enough as I collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly, there was a terrible, ripping sound.

Robbie stopped convulsing for a brief second. His eyes rolled into his head and I saw his thumb fumbling for the ring on his finger before going slack. The arm in his mouth started to retract itself, sick tearing and shredding noises coming out.

Suddenly, a bloody, dripping, link sausage-shaped object was pulled out of Robbie's own gaping jaws. And that was when I lost it.

I screamed at the top of my lungs.

I had no idea what I screamed, I just did.

And I then I watched as the alien-thing panicked. Sticking its arm down my now-dead fiancé's throat, it wrenched out another bloody organ before hoisting it up and having it disappear in the shadows.

"Tori! Tori, where are you?" screamed two of my friends.

My flashlight was rolling away as I curled into a ball, tears streaming down my face as I closed my eyes, hoping that this was just a dream I could wake up from.

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André's POV

"I'm scared," Cat whispered, holding tightly onto my arm.

"It's gonna be okay, baby, I promise," I assured, kissing her lightly on the cheek. She sniffed and snuggled closer to me.

Beck and Jade were sitting in the pilots' seats at the front. Beck was turned around and messing with the dashboard, while Jade was watching the both of us through her narrowed blue eyes.

"I don't think our EPS is going to go out anytime soon, since the wires for that are in an actual locked box, not out in the open like most of the other machines are. If Robbie and Tori can fix us up, then we'll be okay."

"You guys are making a really big deal out of this," Jade said suddenly.

"Well, it is a big deal," I responded.

"It's probably just a tiny bug or malfunction in the system," she answered coolly. "Don't worry too much, geez. If we can't fix it, we can just go back onto the _Jovian _and fly back to Earth."

"We could, but then we'd fail the mission."

"The mission?" Jade replied dubiously, like she had completely forgotten the reason why we were here.

"Yes. Successfully manage to live in outer space for a month," I reminded her.

"Eh, it's not really a 'mission,'" she argued. "I'd call it a vacation. One month away from all those losers on Earth."

"They're not _all _losers," Cat mumbled from underneath my arm.

"Yes they are."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh."

"Stop," Beck interrupted before I could. "It doesn't matter if we fail the mission or not. I think our safety is more important than that, right?"

"Maybe," Jade said, once again being an extreme downer. "You know these scientists. They're all about sacrifice. We did volunteer for this, so technically, we're in their hands now. And you know some of these guys. What's the use in spending the money and fuel to bring us back if we can't even manage a space station by ourselves?"

Cat was almost sent into tears when Jade mentioned the word sacrifice. She started bawling into my suit and I patted her ruby hair gently, glaring at Beck's wife.

"Do you want a time-out?" he asked Jade sternly.

"No, I didn't mean it like that—" Jade tried to say.

"Go sit in the corner!"

Huffing angrily, Jade complied, knowing better than to argue with her husband. Cat was drying her tears as I watched, smiling at how adorable she looked even now. Suddenly, and out of nowhere, there was a loud, incomprehensible scream from the energy room.

"ARRGGHHFFFMMMDDDGGG!"

I sat up, almost knocking Cat away, but I grabbed her before she could fall. Beck stood up too, looking extremely alarmed. Even Jade turned around and raised an eyebrow at the sound.

"I'll go!" I volunteered, not even realizing that I was dragging Cat along.

We raced down the steps to the energy room, our suits beginning to glow. I held Cat's hand tightly as we looked around. I hadn't gotten any flashlights for us, and did not know if there was an actual light switch anywhere. But if there wasn't, our clothes would be enough to make do in the mean time.

"Tori? Tori, where are you?" I called.

"Robbie?" Cat asked in a small voice.

I suddenly heard a weird noise like someone was sobbing. Running ahead of Cat, I saw a flashlight rolling across the cold floor, and then noticed the red body curled up, shaking with coughs and tears.

"Tori?" I knelt down, putting my hand on the woman's back.

Tori wheeled around in shock, staring right into my eyes and I jumped back, knocking the flashlight, sending it spinning in a circle, revealing a huge puddle of blood just a few yards away.

Without thinking twice, I reached down and scooped Tori up, throwing her glowing body over my shoulder and screaming to Cat: "Go back upstairs! Don't get any closer!"

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**Just like the chapter name implies, IT BEGINS. I feel so bad for Tori...and Robbie. But you all knew something like this was going to happen at some point, right?**

**Anyway, so tell me how that went. Too much, or not enough? Not all chapters are going to be like this. Just a few. **


	5. No Way Out

**Here is the next chapter! Sorry if it seems kind of rushed or something; I edited it during my honors world history class }:) and kind of had to make sure I didn't get caught. ;)**

**To Katie-no, not all chapters are going to be like the previous one, just a few, but I'll make sure to warn you ahead of time**

**Thanks to all three reviewers (the number is growing hahaha :D): IAmTheAngelWithBrokenWings, BroadwayPrincess95, and Katie. :)**

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CHAPTER 5  
Cat's POV

I was just at the bottom of the stairs when stopped I heard my boyfriend call out to me. Looking around, I saw his yellow suit glowing in the distance, and he was carrying a red-colored object, which had to be Tori. But where was Robbie?

"Cat, we need to get out of here," André huffed as he came closer.

I didn't stop to question his request, or offer any physical help, knowing that I probably couldn't carry someone to save my life. Instead, I led the way out of the steamy energy room into the dimness of the hall. "Beck! Jade!" I screamed, and the couple came barreling out of the cockpit.

"What's up?" Beck looked extremely concerned, his eyebrows furrowed in worry and mouth turning into a grimace when he saw André struggling to carry Tori up the last few steps. He hurried over to assist his friend while Jade walked over to me. I put my arms around her waist and gave her a very big hug, which surprisingly she didn't reject or complain to.

"What happened, Cat?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Something's wrong with Tori."

"Obviously. Where's Robbie?"

I shook my head at her. I didn't know. Glancing at my boyfriend, wanting nothing more than to cuddle with him at the moment, was busy trying to calm down the sobbing Tori at the top of the stairs with Beck. We went towards them, watching intently.

"Tori, Tori please calm down and tell us where Robbie is," André begged. _Why doesn't he just go back into the energy room and check_? I thought, pursing my lips.

Tori twisted her head back and forth, hands wiping across her face in a vain attempt to get rid of the tears rolling down her cheeks. Beck was hovering nearby anxiously, constantly looking at the doorway to the energy room.

"Don't go in there!" Tori screamed all of a sudden as Beck made a movement to take a step forward.

"Why not?" Beck knelt down, a troubled look plastering his features.

"It's R-R-R-Robbie…" she whispered, crouching low and curling into a ball, arms hugging her chest tightly, "h-h-he…" She had to stop talking, her voice shaking too much. I fought to keep in my own emotions, wanting to give the girl a hug, but I was kind of scared to do so at the same time. Jade's arms tightened around me, almost in a protective way.

The lights above were blinking spastically, indicating that something new was probably going wrong either in the cockpit or the energy room. No one made a move, too anxious to learn what had happened down there.

"Does he have something to do with the blood puddle I found?" André asked.

Tori simply nodded, too choked up to say anymore. _So that's why he made us rush out of there so fast. I guess anyone would be creeped out if they saw a pool of their own friend's body fluid on the floor_…

"H-he's…d-d-dead," she announced, gripping hard onto the collar of her suit, rocking back and forth, biting her lip to keep from crying anymore.

"What?" we shouted all at once.

"How—?" Jade began.

"Something…it had three tentacles of some sort—came down from the ceiling. Two were holding his arms and the other…" Tori paused, starting to pant and shaking her head like she was trying to get rid of a memory, "It was d-down his t-th-throat."

I had to bury my face in Jade's shoulder because the words struck such a hideous image in my head that I almost threw up then and there. Jade stroked my hair, looking absolutely appalled herself. Tori continued in her traumatized state to fill in the horrorstruck boys on the details, which I tuned out as much as possible.

"What could have done something like that?" André said when she finished.

"I…I don't know," Tori sniffled, rubbing her nose with the back of her hand.

"Maybe his body will still be there," Beck tried.

"No." Tori shook her head, more tears spilling from her eyes. "That thing…took him up to the ceiling once all of his insides were gone."

"Could it be an alien that's doing this? An extra-terrestrial creature?" Jade wondered.

"Okay, I'm not going to say that aliens don't exist, because I'm ninety-percent sure that they do, but how could an alien get onto this ship anyway? There are no open hatches or unlocked doors; anywhere."

Everyone was silent, with the exception of Tori's last cries.

Suddenly, Jade stood up, knocking me from her lap. "The window. In the storage room."

"We fixed that," Beck replied, coming over to help me up and ushering me to sit with André and Tori while he stood near Jade.

"No. I remember something. Right after I finished up and before you came in, Beck, I noticed that on the floor, one of the air vents had its grate moved slightly…I just thought that maybe the gravity pulled it off but if you think about it, this 'alien' could've gotten through that and traveled down to the energy room."

"That could be a big possibility, if there really is an unknown creature onboard. And that might even explain why we've lost our main power source. Tori, did you actually see what was wrong down there? Like maybe the machines had wires cut or discs missing?"

"Yeah. One of the boxes mounted to the ground; the inside was completely shattered."

"How are we supposed to fix it if there's a creature down there that rips people's guts straight out of their mouths?" André said, looking frustrated.

"Well, we can't just leave it down there with the machines that keep this station afloat," Beck pointed out.

"Then let's get into the _Jovian _and fly back home in that," Jade said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't think the mission matters anymore. One of our teammates is dead; that should be a good enough excuse."

"All right. Let Beck and me go first and check if anything is wrong with the spaceship since we can't check from in here. I don't want anyone get hurting anymore, okay?" André instructed. "The three of you stay in the cockpit." We got up and started moving towards the room.

"Lock the door behind you and keep on eye on the few stats that are up and running. When we're done, we'll come back and tell you what's going on. You'll know it's us if you hear one knock, followed by three short ones, and then two taps."

"Kay kay," I replied, being the last one to enter.

"And don't go into the energy room, under any circumstance. We'll be back soon."

"Be careful," I said to my boyfriend, kissing him on the cheek for good luck.

"Always. Come on Beck."

"Stay safe, you three." The remaining boys, glowing yellow and blue, hurried off towards the entrance to the _Jovian_. I closed the door behind their retreating backs, turning around to face the other girls.

Jade was at the control panel, looking around wildly while Tori was sitting on the floor by her feet, crying again.

"It's okay, Tori," I comforted, going over and putting my hand on her shoulder.

Tori was playing with the engagement ring on her finger, twisting it awkwardly, like she didn't know what to do with it now. I was about to give her a piece of advice, when Jade's voice broke the air.

"The signal to NASA is backfiring. We've lost all communication."

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Beck's POV

André took the lead, as I had actually completely forgotten which way the _Jovian _was because the only thing on my mind was Robbie's death. Tori seemed absolutely devastated by it, as I'm sure anyone else would be, especially when they witnessed the manner that it happened.

I hoped Jade would take the lead out of the girls, because Cat didn't strike me as someone who would, even in the face of danger, which I didn't even want to think about. Tori was just a mess, but no one could blame her. At least in this way, my wife wouldn't be one to go down without a fight.

"I think it's this way," André's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"You're in charge, boss," I reminded him.

"Do you really think there's an alien onboard?" he asked me suddenly.

"Well, what else on this ship could possibly have three arms and manage to rip a full-grown man's intestines right out of his own mouth?" I said, cringing at the thought.

"Uh, I'm still working on it."

"You do that."

We continued walking around for some time. I'm pretty sure André was busy thinking about other things and not fully focused on which direction we were supposed to be heading in, which was why this was taking longer than necessary. Not that I minded or anything. But I was feeling a little scared myself knowing that the thing that killed Robbie could be lurking anywhere on _Berglemir_.

"Hey, there it is!" André pointed out the familiar door and we hurried over to it. There was a keypad with numbers located by the right side that I never noticed before. "Uh, do you remember what the code is?"

"I didn't even know we needed one," I admitted.

"Let's try the _Jovian_'s lift-off code," he suggested, which was 129620. The numbers glowed on the bar above the buttons, but just as André was finished and pressed enter, the female voice came, "Access denied."

"How about 141191? That's the universal code for NASA." I took charge and smashed my hand on the pad correct keys, only to find that the new password was also rejected. Running my fingers through my hair, I was starting to get frustrated. How were we supposed to get out of this space station if we couldn't even get onto our ship that would take us away?

"Here. I have one more code in mind," André assured.

Just then, there was a buzzing noise that filled the air; it sounded like the power was dying again. I froze in place, holding my balance in case _Berglemir _decided to tip for unknown reasons. Nothing else happened, going back to its eerie silence.

"Okay, I have no idea what that was, but let me try something." André pressed the number one, but it did not appear on the bar. "What's wrong?" He slammed his fingers on the other buttons, with nothing coming up. "Why isn't it working?"

"Let me try." I bashed my entire fist against the keypad. It remained dark and unresponsive. "Crap. What the heck just happened to it?"

"That sound must've been the power going out on this side."

"And that would only happen if…?" I said, already knowing the answer.

"Someone cut something in the energy room."

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We hurried back to the cockpit, finding that the door had been securely locked. Without a word, André did his little knock-code thing, and Jade opened it up, looking extremely wary at first but then relieved to see the both of us.

"Oh cool, so you got in?" she asked, pulling us in.

"Not exactly," André said slowly.

"What?"

I sat down in the pilot chair and André sat next to me. A lump rose in my throat when I realized that now I was now moved up in the ranks since Robbie was gone.

"We were trying to input the password so that the doors would open, but we weren't successful. By the time André figured out a new one, we heard that weird buzzing noise, and sure enough, the keypad had lost power."

"Oh well that's wonderful news. I tried to contact NASA, but the signal came back. We've lost communication and about fifty percent control of the ship. What do you expect we do now?"

_No communication? Lost control of _Berglemir?

We were doomed. This alien knew what it was dealing with, knowing exactly which wires and devices to break so we would be stuck up here, growing more and more panicked by the second.

Tori looked like she was on the verge of passing out. Cat was holding onto André, her face in his shoulder, shaking hard with sobs that racked her body. Jade was looking up at me, expecting to hear some smart plan from my mouth.

I didn't want to let her down.

But I didn't know how in the world we were going to get out of this.

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**'Fun' Fact: Anytime you see a password/passcode or just a string or numbers, they have a secret message hidden behind them, if you can break up the numbers. If A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. can you figure out what the meanings of all the codes are? *wink wink***

**Sorry if that 'lost communication with NASA' part was kind of sudden. I sort of forgot to put it in the last chapter...so...yeah...**

**I hoped you thought this chapter was exceptional. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update since my sophomore year of high school has started, but I'll do my best. :)**


	6. More Trouble Arising

**New chapter! Yay! :)**

**Thank you to: MidniteMasquerade and Leafdrift for leaving a review. :D It is very appreciated, whatever you have to say!**

**Note: There is a poll on my profile asking what pairing should be based around my next mystery story. I encourage you to vote!**

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CHAPTER 6  
Jade's POV

Seeing the blank expression on all my friend's faces, I knew all pressure was on me to come up with a plan to get us out of here. But what did we have to work with? We were running on EPS, and although that technically wouldn't run out as long as the sun kept shining, it was the system itself that could break down at any time.

Different parts of _Berglemir _were starting to shut down because of the alien in the energy room destroying everything, so we pretty much lost our control and were trapped in here because of the locked doors leading to the _Jovian_.

However, it suddenly occurred to me that there were individual propellers, wings, jets and engines on _Berglemir _that helped in glide along smoothly and travel in its orbits. We may not be able to activate them from the cockpit, but who's to say we can't go and manually jumpstart it ourselves?

Sure, it was dangerous; what other choice did we have? I for one am not going down without a fight.

"If we can physically get the propellers and engines to start, maybe we have a slight chance," I voiced to my friends.

"You think? That's incredibly risky." Beck didn't look too into the idea.

"Can you come up with something better?"

"Getting into the energy room."

"So you'd rather face a who-knows-_what_ in that tiny, overheated room of darkness than go out into the never-ending outer space and turn on an engine?"

"Stop exaggerating. You _know _it won't be that simple."

I had so much more to say, but kept quiet this once. André was sitting in co-pilot chair, holding Cat in his lap, who had her arms around his neck and was looking at me with huge brown eyes. Tori was biting her lip uneasily, obviously sensing the tension between us.

"You said that we can't _send _a signal to NASA. That doesn't mean that we can't _receive_ any signs from them," my husband pointed out, tapping his fingers on the dimmed dashboard for emphasis. "We'll just wait until they figure out that we're not responding, and then come to get us."

"They have that seventy-two hour rule, remember? You really want to wait three entire days? That alien could cut our entire power source off at any moment, not to mention come out of nowhere and eat us all alive. I say we do something while we can," I argued. "We may be guinea pigs for this experiment, but we've got no one here who can tells us what we can and can't do."

"I agree," André said, and I felt grateful for his support. "Beck, dude, we can't afford to lose anymore people. Not just because we'd 'fail'—because, well, we already have—but these are our friends that are being taken away from us. We all knew what the worst could happen when we volunteered, but now it's actually happening. We've trained for seven years. Just like Jade's trying to say, we shouldn't go down without a fight at least."

"Do it for Robbie," Tori whispered, and I felt a stab of pain for her when she spoke. This was probably not easy for her at all. Her fiancé just died, and now we were pretty much forcing her to get over it unless she wanted to die to. I may not really like her that much, but I really admired how strongly she was holding up. If Beck was the one who was killed, I'd probably go straight and commit suicide without a second thought.

"All right. So André and I will go and try to start the engines and prop—"

"No," I interrupted Beck, "it was my idea so I'm going to do it."

"I'm not really comfortable with you risk—" he tried to fight back.

"I am just as capable as you are, thank you very much," I replied indignantly.

"Fine. Can Cat and Tori go with you then?" Geez, Beck was so paranoid when it came to my safety in other environments. Yet he wouldn't even blink when I ran around the house carrying about four or five pairs of scissors at once.

"Kay kay," Cat squeaked while Tori simply nodded.

"André and I will go down to the equipment room—assuming we can get past the locked doors—and gather all the supplies we can in case we lose EPS and can't get down there anymore. Oh, and I think there are some guns there too."

"Yep," André confirmed, shaking his head.

"Keep on eye on each other, and if you do happen to see this…alien thing…just don't panic and do what training taught you."

"Yes, Beck," I said in a slightly sarcastic tone. I grabbed Tori's arm, pulling her up while Cat got out of her boyfriend's lap, wiping her nose and coming to stand close to me.

"Okay. Good luck, and see you guys in a few."

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We each went our separate directions. Beck and André took the fork-path's right exit and we went left, where I knew the door leading towards the jets and propellers were. Tori was holding onto Cat to keep her balance while I stayed in the lead, constantly aware of the bleary, hazy light, blinking frantically and the sound of steam from the loose pipes in the walls.

"Are we almost there, Jadey?" Cat's voice jolted me in the dark.

"Yes. It should be right around the corner—aha!"

There was wide, twenty foot-long window on the left side of the hall, which I looked out and saw the propellers that kept _Berglemir _moving very clearly. They were huge and had four blades each (out of the two I saw), which were currently rotating extremely slowly. A bulky ring kept the propellers encased and at a specific thirty-degree angle, and a giant pole connected to that attached them to the side of the station.

"So who wants to go out and help me start moving those things?" I turned around.

"I'll do it," Tori volunteered boldly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course I'd end up stuck in outer space having to rely on her if something went wrong. Oh well. It was better that Cat didn't go, anyway. I didn't want her to get hurt or scared. "Maybe it will help get things off my mind."

We headed into the mini equipment room located across the exit door to get properly suited up and gather our materials. Tori and I put on a few extra layers of bright white jackets, gigantic helmets and oxygen tanks while Cat got out the portable battery and cables that we could use to get the propellers to start spinning again hopefully. Then we made our way towards the door.

Just like any other actual exit on _Berglemir_, it had two doors separated by a few feet in between, which served as the airlock to balance pressure when going outside, or coming back in.

Cat helped us put on a few harnesses and tie the ropes to them before joining the ends to the wheel that was fixed on the wall by the door, used to help adjust the lengths and make sure we didn't drift too far out when we were in space or even help pull us back quickly if there was a problem.

Tori and I entered the airlock chamber, holding our items and getting ready for the pressure to settle. Cat was on the other side of the door with a walkie-talkie, able to give us information and also keep on eye on our distances from _Berglemir_.

"You ready for this, Vega?"

Tori's voice crackled in my helmet's earpieces, "As ready as I'll ever be."

"I'm sorry about Robbie," I said, surprised at my soft tone of voice.

"Don't talk about it."

"Okay."

The door slid open at last, and we were immediately sucked out into the open galaxy, the cables bouncing against my knee from where the hung on my belt. I jerked back when the rope on my harness pulled taut, and could hear Cat saying something about giving us more room to move.

"Which way do we go?" Tori asked, turning her darkened visor towards my face.

"Towards the propellers. Where else?"

"Sor-ree. I was just checking."

Floating in the weightlessness was amazing. Slowly, we paddled over to the barely spinning blades inch by inch as Cat would allow it. I examined the areas around it very carefully and Tori did the same.

"Give me the battery," I told her and she obliged, picking up the object and holding it out to me. I attached the clips of the cable to parts of it carefully, then we moved closer to the blades.

"Be careful," Tori whispered.

"Shut up," I responded.

I felt the heat radiating inside my suit as I unattached the cables from my belt and held them in mid-air. I quickly fastened the end to one of the thick blades, still holding them in my hands before nodding to Tori.

"Here it goes," she said, pressing the on-button of the battery.

There a snap and a spark, but other than that nothing else happened.

"Try it again," I instructed, my fingers growing hot with anticipation.

Tori did as she was told, but other than a slight jerk, I could not feel that the cables had any energy even traveling through them. "Why isn't it working?" she asked me.

"No clue. Try rearranging the cables." Tori moved her end of the cables to different parts of the portable batter, then nodded at me before trying it a third time.

I felt the short zap in my fingers before the blade jerked, starting to spin in a slow circle. We were yanked back by the ropes as Cat didn't want us getting sucked in a sliced to pieces if our plan did work.

The four blades spun a full circuit before coming to a lame stop.

"It's not working," Tori observed.

"Oh, no, I couldn't tell," I said dryly.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"Do I have to come up with everything?"

"Are you guys doing okay?" Cat's high voice came all of a sudden. I turned my head in the direction of Tori, expecting her to tell the girl what was going on since I didn't have the heart to.

"No, Cat. The plan is not working. I think we need something stronger."

"Okay. Then can you both come back inside? I'm getting lonely."

"Fine. Reel us in," Tori replied. We put all the equipment back on our belts and started pushing the empty air around us while our ropes got shorter and we came closer to _Berglemir_. Cat stopped all of a sudden, and I could just barely touch the handle that would open the outside door.

"Cat, what happened?" Tori asked, floating next to me.

"I think it jammed."

"So fix it," I supplied.

"I'm trying! Stop being so mean to me!" I could picture the girl biting her lip as she frantically tried to undo the knots of our rope that probably was the cause of the jam.

"Yeah, Jade," Tori prodded my shoulder lightly, and I slapped her away. I didn't like being out here longer than necessary, especially when it was with Vega. Suddenly, I saw her snap straight up. "Did you see that?" she asked.

"See what?"

"I thought I saw something move down there." Tori pointed with a finger a few yards lower than we were floating. I saw the rungs of the built-in ladder, but nothing else.

"Are you trying to scare me? Because it's not working," I informed her.

"I'm serious."

"Well, I don't see anything moving down there," I said, tilting my head to get a better view of the area she had been gesturing to. "It's okay, Tori. Sometimes we go a little crazy once in a while and start having hallucinations."

"Jade!" she exclaimed, upset that I was poking fun at her mental state.

"You guys can get into the airlock, you know," Cat said suddenly. "There's still one knot I need to fix, but I think you can get into _Berglemir _if you can beat the gravity."

I yanked on the handle with a strong hand, pushing aside one of the two doors and going forward to climb in, but it was too difficult without the help of the rope, so I floated backwards a few feet.

Turning around to see how Tori was doing, my heart leapt to my throat.

She was right.

There was something out here with us.

And that something had grabbed onto her.

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**I know the information about fixing/jumpstarting the propellers are probably nowhere near accurate, but I'm not an engineer or ever been in space before. Sorry if it bugs you.**

**And haha! Cliffhanger time! }:) Prepare yourself for the next chapter! Mwahahaha...**


	7. Torn Away

**It is already the third week of school and I am failing English class. I guess I'm using all my ideas for fan fiction and coming up with none for school...**

**This chapter is pretty predictable, so hopefully you're already prepared for what's about to go down...**

**Special thanks to reviewers: Katie and LizabethScissors. :)**

**WARNING: THE CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT THAT MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS. READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.**

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CHAPTER 7  
Beck's POV

André, of course, was leading the way once again to the lower rooms that held all of our important equipment. I followed after him as quickly as possible, keeping an eye out for any sign of movement that might indicate the alien was following us.

"You think the girls are going to be successful?" he asked.

"Possibly, but I think they need something stronger than a set of cables and a portable battery to jumpstart even one set of blades," I replied truthfully.

"Oh well. The faster we can get the supplies, the faster we can go back and help them out. Not that I don't trust them, because I do. I just hope we've caught this problem fast enough for it to not be such a big issue."

"Yep, yep."

We made it to the big, locked door housing the majority of our equipment. There was no electronic pad asking for a password, but an actual keyhole, which André produced the metal piece from his pocket and unlocked quickly.

I took in the sight of organized stock: extra glowing suits hanging from pegs, tall boxes full of freeze-dried food stacked to the ceiling, and portable machines that could filter water, provide heat and more were sitting out on and under tables.

"This place is loaded," André murmured.

"Then we should have easy work," I replied.

He went into action like I did. I grabbed a backpack from the corner and started stuffing it with extra rations and other small tools that could be useful. André was gathering oxygen masks and helmets, tossing them into the doorway so we would remember to bring them out.

"Dude," I said, suddenly remembering something, "don't forget the guns."

"Right."

André went up to a big, obviously locked-up cabinet. This one had a keypad, which was glowing blue (I had no idea where the source of power was), and André quickly punched in 72114. The two doors swung open to reveal the inside with beautiful guns and ammo neatly hanging on the hooks and bundled in bags.

André took down a few white rifle-looking ones, and while I snagged an array of smaller handguns. Once we were finished, we filled up our arms with the retrieved supplies and tottered out of the room, hoping that the movements wouldn't set off the weapons.

"Let's put this stuff back in the cockpit," André suggested. "Then we'll go and find the girls."

"Okay," I said hesitantly, a weird knot tying in my gut at the thought of having to leave Jade for even a few more minutes. _Suck it up, Beck! She's with Tori and Cat. She'll be fine_. Taking a deep breath, I trotted behind André.

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Jade's POV

I heard two noises at once, and both of them had a big affect on me.

One was the snap as the doors of _Berglemir _shutting themselves but not locking, while the other came from Tori that rattled my eardrums and caused my head to spin with the mere echo of it.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

There were two, long, slimy tentacles wrapped around her waist, starting to pull her downwards where I guess the rest of the body awaited.

"Tori!" I yelled, reaching down and snagging onto one of her flailing arms before she was too far away. Her legs were kicking frantically, trying to loosen the grip of the alien while holding on to me at the same time.

I completely forgot about getting into _Berglemir_.

The only thing on my mind was to survive this attack. This could possibly be the same one that killed Robbie, or at least I hoped it was. I'd die if I knew there were more of these creatures infiltrating our space station.

"Jade! Do something, help me," Tori begged loudly.

"I'm—trying—" I grunted, pulling up, but just as Tori moved, she was dragged back. I couldn't see her face, but I'm sure if I could her eyes would be filled to the brim with tears. I may not have liked Tori, but there was no way I was going to be the reason the alien killed her too.

"Cat, the alien is out here! Can't you open the frickin' doors or something!" I asked, panicked. Leaning over and ignoring the strain in my back, I looped my arms under Tori's to try and get a stronger and more manageable grip. My adrenaline was pumping, my ears roaring and breath huffing.

"The alien?" Cat was in disbelief.

"Yes!" I was in no mood to repeat things.

"Jade!" Tori screamed, her fingers digging into my thickly padded shoulders.

Suddenly, there was an awful tearing noise, and the ropes hooked in our harnesses stretched out, bringing us lower and lower to where the alien was hiding. I still could not locate where its face could be, and I didn't even want to imagine what it might look like.

"My legs!" Tori screeched.

My line was holding me at a halt, not willing to extend any further. Neither was Tori's, but the tentacles wrapped around her legs continued to pull. The horrible vision of what could go wrong entered my brain, but I forced myself to ignore it and attend to the current situation.

_We need to get back up into the airlock. We'll have a better chance_, I thought, my mind beginning to form a manageable plan. But we were at least six feet away from the handle, and with all of the forces dragging us away, I couldn't think how to get closer unless the alien let go of Tori.

She was sobbing now, her fingers moving back and forth to hold me and make an attempt to pry the arms off of her body. I saw the tears in her suit, blood starting to well out and drift off in neat little bubbles in the space.

"I got it!" Cat said.

The rope started pulling us back, but then my vision of our outcome came back to me.

"Wait! No!" I said in a desperate tone.

The alien's appendages seemed to sense that it was losing its fight to a measly pair of ropes. Instead of giving up completely and leaving us alone with nothing in its greasy mitts, it gave a vicious yank.

And both Tori's legs ripped right off of her body.

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Blood went everywhere.

Tori's scream was so earsplitting I went deaf, not able to hear anything but a dull buzz echo through my skull. Ignoring my pain, I paddled up, holding onto the rope and the still Tori.

Reaching out, I wrenched the door open, tossing her inside first before throwing my aching body in after her. The door went to slide shut, but jammed as it tried to lock. I ignored it, bending down to attend to Tori.

I ripped off my elbow-length gloves, trying to calm her down.

"Tori, Tori, Tori," I said, trying to get her attention.

The darkened visor of helmet lifted up, revealing her face, a mixture of white and green. I saw her eyes darting down towards the hollows of mutilated flesh where her legs were once connected to her waist.

"No, no, look at me. Don't look at it," I intervened, grabbing the sides of her helmet.

"Uhhhggg...oh god," she whispered, her voice hardly audible.

I quickly removed her own gloves, trying to feel for her pulse. It was sharp but slow, something that was extremely dangerous. I began to feel an intense force on my arms, like they were being crushed between bricks.

Tori reached down with her hands, bringing them back up soaked scarlet. "I'm going to die," she murmured. I stuffed our wadded-up gloves into the bloody cavities, trying to slow the increasing flow. The slick floor was covered in a crimson puddle, which was getting bigger and bigger.

"You're not going to die." I tried to remain positive in the bleak situation. "Cat! Why are we spending so much time in here? Tori's badly hurt! She lost her legs and she's going to bleed out if we don't get help in time."

"What happened to them?"

"The alien ripped them off. Stop asking questions and figure out what's going on!"

"The door isn't locked properly. You can't bring the pressure down if more and more keeps coming in!"

"What do you mean it's not—"

Then it hit me. Why my arms, which were exposed, were feeling like someone was squeezing the crap out of them. I looked up at the clear door, seeing that the lever for the lock was still pushed up.

I eased my way from Tori, going over to it and trying to snap the lock shut. It wasn't working for some reason. _No, no, we cannot be stuck in this room. This is not happening_. Then an idea popped into my mind.

Moving to open the door so I could slam it shut better, I didn't think twice about the situation. Just as it was open an inch, I saw some movement in the bottom of my vision. I looked down, and saw the tip of a tentacle in the way.

My first reaction was to step and kick it. But just as I did so, more of the full arm came up, slithering between my legs, continuing to move behind me. I turned around and saw that it was going for Tori.

Another limb came up, knocking me aside. Tori screamed as they latched onto her stomach, beginning to drag her towards the door. She slid easily through the puddle, not being able to find traction or a hold to grab anywhere.

I seized her bare arm, and her fingernails dug into my skin. The door was opening wider and wider, the pressure in the room increasing so much I thought my body was going to pop.

Ribbons of flesh streamed out beneath Tori; she looked like some sort of gruesome piñata. Placing my foot against one half of the door, I struggled to hold her back against the alien.

Her rope pulled taut, and I felt the sharp pain when her nails ripped into the skin of my inner elbow. My other hand went to give support, catching the middle of her forearm. I bent my legs, trying to push off like a spring to get her closer into the airlock, but the only result I received was her dragging her nails down my arm and causing huge gashes to form.

I growled in pain and concern, trying to keep a hold on her.

The tentacles yanked harder, and both Tori and I screamed. The cuts were inches above my wrist now, having started all the way at my elbows. Blood trickled down, soaking our hands and making our grip slippery.

We could only hold on to each other as Tori's rope started breaking strand by strand from the combined pressure of gravity, the alien, and me. Every time I heard the tiny pop, it felt like a nerve in my brain was snapping too. It meant that we were getting closer and closer to Tori being wrenched away from _Berglemir _and left to be eaten by that ferocious beast.

The strain was becoming too much and my arms were on fire. "Uhh…don't let go, Tori…" I said in a tight voice. "I'll figure a way out. I promise."

She couldn't speak anymore, probably having lost too much blood at this point, and even her grasp was starting to weaken, so I had to balance it by tightening my numb and bloody fingers.

However, I knew that at any moment Tori's cable could tear in two. It wasn't strong enough to support all of this weight.

SNAP.

Just as the thoughts had entered my head, they came true. She sunk her nails into my wrists and fingers with almost a hundred times more force than she had earlier. "Don't let me go, Jade," she begged, tears streaming down her face.

_No, no I won't_.

But my rope would break soon too. And when that happens, we will both be sucked out and killed. If I went against my promise and let go of Tori, I could at least save myself, not only by relieving the cable of its load, but giving the alien a distraction in the meantime.

_You can't think like that, Jade. Tori is part of the team. It's already bad enough that Robbie had to die._ _Letting her die too won't solve any problems_.

"Please," Tori mouthed, her clutch loosening with every second that passed.

_I'm not strong enough to pull us both in. Why must _I_ be faced with this decision? What have I done to deserve this_?

Tori's face was whiter than a ghost's. I was surprised that she had been able to remain steadily conscious for this long. I guess her adrenaline was pumping so fast she couldn't feel the fact that her legs were gone and blood was pouring from her body a mile a minute.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, wondering if she could hear me.

"No…"

I squeezed my eyes shut and let go.

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**:'O Sort of a cliffhanger. Sort of.**

**And that is the end of blood and gore for this week's installment! :) I think...**

**How many more will die before they can get help? And why has no one on Earth done anything yet?  
**

**Find out...in the next chapter! Coming soon. :D**


	8. The Chillsnare

**Eep! I'm so sorry I've been gone for...a long time. I was doing really bad in school so I had to get my grades back up, and then I'm doing tutoring afterschool, and working on Spirit Week decorations...blargh. So much stuff to get done first.**

**I guess the good news I have for you guys is that I've got three new ideas for stories that will come in the near future. That's a plus, right?**

**Thanks to the two wonderful reviewers of: BADE and LizabethScissors.**

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CHAPTER 8  
Jade's POV

I collapsed on the ground with a thud. Without thinking twice, I slammed the door shut and locked it securely, curling up into a ball as the pressure balanced out. Tears were forming in my eyes, threatening to fall out against my will.

I was hardly aware of my surroundings at this point; Cat had come inside after the airlock stable and put her arms around me tightly, holding me against her smaller body. She helped me out of the small chamber and into the hall, removing my helmet and I took a huge breath of air, ending up hiccupping and fighting back sobs that choked their way out of my throat.

"It's okay, Jadey," she whispered, patting my sweaty forehead.

"No…oh god, _no_…I let her die. It's all my fault," I breathed heavily. "I'm so sorry, Tori. I may have hated you for years but I never wanted to be the reason why you died," I said out to her dying soul, wherever it was, being eaten by that monster.

"You had to do it, otherwise you both would've been killed."

I couldn't argue with my friend any longer. Not because I didn't have any comebacks, because you can be sure as heck that I had them all lined up in my brain waiting to spew out of my mouth, but because I started crying so hard that I couldn't even breathe.

Cat pulled me into her lap and I reached over, grabbing the strands of her ruby hair and wiping my eyes on them. When I finally had nothing left, I looked up at her, seeing that her own face was flushed and her makeup streaming down.

"What happened to your arms?" she asked in a small voice.

"Wha—?" I looked down, sickened by the sight. On each of my forearms, from the crook of my elbow down to the top of my wrist, were five, long, bloody gashes that Tori must've given me in her struggle to hold on. I didn't realize they were this bad, and now they were starting to throb painfully. "Tori tried to grab me so she wouldn't be pulled away, but as you can see, her grip got weaker and weaker…"

Cat hugged me again.

"It's okay. Let's fix you up and find the guys."

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Beck's POV

The heavy weight of the backpack thudded against my spine as I raced after André in the dark interior of the hall. We were both armed with guns, in case the alien decided to come out of nowhere and attack us. We would be ready to blow the stupid thing's head off.

"What do you think it looks like?" André asked curiously.

"I don't really want to know."

"Fair enough."

We continued for some while, growing more and more tired by the second. But my heart was pumping fast as I longed to see and make sure Jade was okay. We rounded a corner that had door leading to outside (not the ones the girls would've went out) when André slipped and fell.

"Dude!" I said, but being more surprised than concerned.

André struggled to stand up, slipping once again and landing on his back, his arms and legs splaying out like an awkward turtle's might. I reached over and seized his hand, strongly pulling him up.

He started brushing off his pants, when suddenly he stopped, bringing his hands up to his face. "Um…Beck…"

"What?"

André put his hand in front of my face. I could see the darker parts of his palm where some sort of liquid covered it. I reached out and swiped some of it onto my finger, flinching at how warm and sticky it was.

_Blood_.

My heart stopped beating; I stood there frozen.

"Oh crap. Let's hurry up."

There were two more halls until we finally found Cat and Jade. Tori was nowhere to be seen, but I figured out what might've happened to her shortly after seeing the blood on Jade's suit and arms.

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I ran up to my wife, knocking Cat unceremoniously out of the way and putting my arms around Jade. She snuggled against my chest, and I could feel more tears appearing on her face, which was odd, because she rarely ever cries, even in my presence.

"What happened, what happened?" André demanded of Cat, sitting down on the floor with her. There was a bright red first-aid box open next to her, a roll of gauze in her hand. "Where's Tori? Why is Jade covered in blood? What happened, you guys?"

Jade pulled away from me, a look of agony on her face. I glanced down at her arms, seeing one of them completely wrapped up in a staining red bandage, while the other had five long gashes on it. My mouth hung open in shock.

"That alien came," Cat said blatantly, her brown eyes shining with tears. She pulled out of André's arm and moved back next to Jade's side, continuing to bind up the last loose end of gauze.

"I couldn't hold on," Jade whispered, staring at her mutilated arms. "It was too strong, and Tori's rope broke…I couldn't do it. I'm so sorry." She wiped her face quickly, like she was embarrassed and ashamed at the same time.

"It's not your fault. She'll be in a better place. She'll be with Robbie now."

_Why are we thinking like this_? I thought. _Shouldn't we at least give them a mourning? But then again, we'll die too if we can't figure out something first_.

"Well let's not just sit around here if the alien could be on the other side of those doors. It might be inside already though, since Beck and I found a trail of blood just a few halls down. But it didn't seem too fresh, so maybe it was Robbie's, that it took and dragged out," André explained.

"You still think Robbie's alive?"

"I don't think so. Tori was never specific, and I don't think we can ask her anymore," I looked down at my wife, who was holding my waist tightly now. "We just need to keep moving. We have weapons. If that alien strikes one more time, we'll give it something to run with." I reached towards my left hip and pulled out the smaller gun, waving it at the girls as proof.

"Can we name the alien? So we can call this Project: insert alien name here," Cat said, almost innocently.

"You want to name the monster that killed two of our best friends?" Jade almost yelled at the smaller girl.

"No, she's right," André agreed with his girlfriend. "We won't be so scared of this thing if we give it a name. It kind of shows that we're the bosses in this station. And no one is going to overthrow us."

"It doesn't seem right," I inserted, but they all ignored my opinion.

"How about Rainbow Cupcake?" Cat suggested in a giggly voice, packing up the medical supplies into the bag once more.

"Octopus Prime?" André offered.

"We don't know for sure it looks colorful, likes cupcakes, or has eight arms," I countered, disapproving each of their names and feeling sick to my stomach. Jade was shaking her head in my chest, refusing to even look at them.

"Then what should we call it?" André asked.

Jade looked up slowly, her blue eyes glinting with determination, but bloodshot and full of worry. In a voice that said she wasn't going to take no for an answer, she whispered, "We'll call it the Chillsnare."

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Trina's POV

Glancing up at the ten-foot long monitors that plastered every space of wall in the large room, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Several other workers were sitting in their separate desks beside me; everything needed to be watched over twenty-four-seven since anything could happen to our volunteers at any time, but we usually split the shifts between ourselves.

Becoming slightly bored, I started rocking back and forth in my swivel chair, creating an annoying squeaky noise.

"Can you stop that, Trina?" Sinjin Van Cleef called from across the room. He was one of the captains in charge of this launch mission, and he absolutely hated anything that was a distraction, which I accounted for eighty percent of the time.

"Why?" I replied, continuing my behavior. Unlike what most people thought, I did take my job very seriously, but hey, I'd been doing this for almost a decade; surely they could cut me some slack now and then.

"I'm trying to work over here."

"You're always working."

The boy popped his head up at me from behind a counter, his eyes narrowed and eyebrows scrunched in frustration. He spent so much time looking at computers that I wondered why he hadn't gone either blind or cross-eyed for life. Of course, I did the same thing, but every day I went home, I committed to doing an hour's worth of 'eye-exercises' that helped them stay normal and in great shape. I still wasn't even wearing glasses.

Suddenly, there was a very loud buzzing noise, and the control room filled with a bright red light that went on and off every few seconds. I wanted to panic for a moment, but years of training helped me stay calm as we all made our way over to the main set of monitors, half of which were blinking furiously. Picking up a headset with earmuffs and a microphone, I snapped it onto my head.

"The power is down on _Berglemir_. It appears that the main wires have been unplugged or cut or something; I wonder how. Those cords have very strong protective shells, and we did warn them not to go down to the energy room unless the circumstances were dire, in fear of them accidentally tripping over the hundreds of cables, ruining the set temperature or just being in proximity of machines running at full blast was a hazard alone.

"Give it a few minutes. I'm sure we're just receiving a communication error," Sinjin assured everyone, sitting at the middle desk and taking over the controls. I watched intently. "See? They've got power again…but hold on…why are they using their EPS?"

"Anyone located on _Berglemir_; Tori, Robbie, Beck, Jade, André, Cat: please give me a response," I said into the headset.

"Calm down, Trina," Sinjin said. "No one needs to panic about this. As long as the sun is alive and their solar panels remain on the station, they will be able to live as comfortably as if their main power source was still running."

"But something else isn't right," I responded.

"Of course not. We don't have a signal—which I hope the rest of you are trying to figure out why that is—but like I said earlier, it's probably just a malfunction with the system."

"Then fix it. We've got six of the most willing workers this company has ever seen, one of which includes my baby sister. If something goes wrong up there and they get _killed_, this program will be deemed a failure, millions of dollars of thousands of hours of time will have gone to waste, and I guarantee we'll be facing several lawsuits from the several families."

"Don't think like that," Sinjin snapped. "You keep that act up, and something bad _will _happen."

"Fix it!" I spun around, stomping back to my station.

After settling back down for about five minutes, the alarm sounded for a second time and I rushed over to Sinjin.

"They signal they have has stopped sending altogether. We can't record anything they're doing now. I have no idea how this could have happened." Sinjin's fingers were knotted in his curly afro, looking frustrated. He shooed the many workers gathered around his chair, leaving me standing there alone. "Trina, see if they can still receive."

"NASA to _Berglemir_, is the signal connecting?"

There was no sound of my words being sent back, but there was no response either.

"NASA to _Berglemir_, what is going on?" My heart pounding in my chest, I turned to the hopeful eyes of Sinjin. "Nope; nothing. I can send messages, but no one is answering them."

"If this is some joke they're playing, they'll all be _fired_—"

"They're in their thirties; I doubt it," I muttered, still worried, especially for Tori. We always had issues getting along, ever since we were born and even after we had moved out of Mom and Dad's house. But after we started working for the same company, things started to smooth out a little. But then it didn't help that she was the girlfriend of the geeky, yet cute Robbie Shapiro (Beck was taken and Jade wasn't exactly friendly with the idea of flirting so I gave up with him). I didn't mind André Harris too much either, except I would never ruin his relationship with the adorable little Cat Valentine.

"What do we do then?" my questions kept coming and coming.

"We wait."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me the first time, Trina. We'll wait seventy-two hours before flying any of our shuttles up there to see if anything's really wrong," Sinjin informed me.

"Seventy-two hours? That's like three whole days!"

"Exactly. It should be the perfect amount of time to get things fixed if the problem isn't serious, but if it is, then we'll know that something is really wrong and send someone up there to go and fix it, right?"

"What if it's something worse than we thought?"

Sinjin's eyes became cold and hard. "They are technically volunteers for the mission. They knew the consequences, should something like this have happened. You and I both knew what they were too, which is exactly why we're here and they're up there."

"All right, all right, fine," I sighed. "Seventy-two hours. No more, no less."

"Yes."

Looking back up at the frozen screen of _Berglemir _with the _Jovian _hooked up to its side, I thought, _Hold on you guys. None of us are quite sure what's happening up there, but don't forget that we'll—I'll—be doing everything I can to keep you all safe, no matter what_.

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**Okay, so I guess a lot of that was kind of OCC. Especially Trina and Sinjin. Many apologies. And I know that no one in their right mind would want to name something that killed two of their best friends, but I don't want to keep calling the alien 'the alien' so I came up with a name for it. ;)**

**Anyway, hope to see you guys (very) soon! :)**


	9. Enter

**OHKAY. So...just the other day my crush asked me out to our school's Homecoming dance. :') asdfjkl; And to celebrate I decided to write another chapter of this story. Yay! Don't worry, I'll never abandon it. I just have more interesting things to do sometimes...**

**Lots of love to: Lizabeth Scissors. :)**

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CHAPTER 9  
Jade's POV

Beck insisted on carrying me for our next walk and I glared at him, saying that although my arms were currently mutilated, my legs were only slightly shaken and wobbly but otherwise completely unharmed, save for the blood and tears in the pants. But he wouldn't give in and tossed me over his shoulder.

"We'll go down to the living quarters," André announced. "And make a base there, since it's pretty far from the energy room and cockpit, and it's very secure. Is everyone okay with that?"

"Uh-huh." We all nodded, too tired and emotionally drained to argue. Cat clung onto her boyfriend tightly, me hanging limp on Beck. I wanted to close my eyes and go to sleep for a week, but every time I even blinked, the image of a screaming Tori being whipped out of the airlock by the alien…or the Chillsnare…burned into my mind.

When came to the entrance of the small dormitory, André drew up his gun and entered first, with Beck waiting outside with Cat and I. The darker-skinned man came back out, telling us that it was all clear and we inside, each of us taking a bunk and lying down.

Cat hugged her knees to her chest as André climbed the ladder to the bed on top of hers. I was opposite of her with Beck above, his body creaking the mattress and he dangled his arm over the edge in front of my face.

"Are…are we going to be in here until we die?" Cat asked in a small voice.

"We'll come up with a plan to get out of here before that happens," André assured his girlfriend. "Speaking of which, who'd like to begin?"

"The Chillsnare is probably enjoying its snack so I doubt it'll be after us for a while," I said grimly, running a hand over my bandaged-wrapped arm. Whatever sticky, foul-smelling medicine Cat had put on them had taken away the sting—if only it could take away the mental pain as well.

"Maybe. We can assume it's eaten Rob too, and it hasn't even been twenty-four hours. That Chillsnare is either really hungry, or, god I don't even want to think about it—growing…" André shuddered.

"How do you think we can kill it? I don't think luring it in will be a problem; it's just managing to finish it off that seems to be," Beck observed.

"Since I've personally never gotten a glimpse of this creature, we'll have to just guess that either its head, or its heart—if it even has one—will be a place to target with our weapons."

"But I don't want to go and find the Chillsnare!" Cat cried, burying her face in her hands. "I want to go home. This mission isn't fun anymore."

"Cat, baby, we can't home without power or communication," André tried to comfort her, hopping off the bunk and swinging over the rail to snuggle next to his girlfriend. Cat lay her head on his shoulder and he placed his long arm around her body.

"I _kind of_ saw the Chillsnare. At least, its arms," I spoke up, "they're long and slimy, kind of like an octopus's, except they don't have those suction cup things. They've got hooks instead, I think, and are incredibly strong, as that was how Tori's legs got ripped off." I bit the inside of my cheek, trying not to vomit at the thought.

"Okay. So when we see the Chillsnare, avoid its arms. Got it."

"Is that just our plan?" Beck's voice echoed disconcertingly from the top bunk. "Find the Chillsnare and kill it?"

"Can you come up with anything else? As much as I hate having to put ourselves at risk, we don't have another choice. We won't be able to work peacefully if the Chillsnare is lurking around, especially in the energy room, with all of its heat seems like a place that it would enjoy hanging out. And we can't fix anything if its going to be breathing down our necks." André had a point. It may not mean anything good for us, but we couldn't hang around here all day. If we didn't attack first, then we might be attacked ourselves.

"Okay. Let's go," Beck announced, and I could hear the bed shifting as he moved around.

"Can we at least wait an hour?" André tried to compromise. "I think we're going to need to at least mentally prepare for this. Because we're all going in, right? No one is left behind."

"Right."

"Do you think you'll be able to handle this, Jade? I mean, after all, you were the one to see Tori—" Beck started.

"Yes," I interrupted, cross that he would be concerned for me. I'd bet get over. "I'll be fine."

"Excellent." Beck came down from the bunk, sitting next to me and kissing my cheek. At the same time, his hand held mine, and I felt something cold and heavy pressed into my palm: a gun.

"Get ready to blow up some alien butt."

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A full hour later, everyone was ready to go. André hesitantly allowed Cat to carry her own gun, but was more scared that she'd actually have to use it rather than the fact that she might shoot herself. There was one training session we had at NASA that involved shooting targets, and when the instructor walked out to give a demonstration, Cat accidentally fired a blank at his head, clipping his temple. Needless to say, he was out for a week and Cat was required to fill out six different forms in order to even touch a gun again.

We made our way to the energy room very slowly and carefully. Beck was in the front and André in the back, Cat and I in the middle. The flickering, dying lights of _Berglemir _only added to the suspense and tension. It was terribly exhilarating yet absolutely frightening. Each of us glowed a different color, the shades mixing together on the floor and walls.

We were a hundred feet away from the energy room door.

"All right, gang," André whispered, "we go down and find the broken machinery. The two that we need to fix the most will be the control and communication. Everything should be labeled, but if it isn't…well, just call Beck or I and we'll help you figure it out.

"There's a toolbox somewhere too. I'll try and get to it. Since I don't think there's a main light system, just use the glows of your suits and this." He whipped his backpack off and started rummaging through the contents before pulling out a small flashlight. "Here. You and Jade stay together." André gave it to Cat, who backed away to stand next to me.

"We can do this, you guys," Beck said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "We trained for years. We're not completely helpless."

"Duh," I replied.

"Let's go."

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Beck and I agreed to enter the energy room first, walking down the stairs a step at a time while flashing our lights in every direction to make sure the Chillsnare wasn't around. We had taken off our marriage rings, hiding them in our pockets so nothing could happen to them. Once we reached the bottom, I waved up at Cat, and they came down quickly.

It was uncomfortably hot; I tugged at my collar uneasily, dragging a finger across my forehead and brought it up to see that it was moist with sweat. Ew. I almost never sweated, but maybe this was a sign that something was going to happen.

Cat clung onto me, her orange suit color mingling with my green one. The grip on my gun tightened, my breathing slowing down but my heart speeding up.

"If you see anything move, point your gun but try not to shoot immediately, since it could be a machine reflecting off another, and our goal is to keep these things intact, not destroy them even more.

"Keep your guns loaded and armed at all times. Scream if you need help, and stay as close together as possible, although I don't think that's going to be easy when we need to break up to complete the separate jobs.

"Beck, I need you to figure out exactly what's wrong with the equipment; Cat and Jade, can you two walk around and keep an eye out for the Chillsnare? I'll be locating the toolbox." André sounded incredibly professional it made me wonder if this was really the same man we left Earth with.

"Sure thing. Come on, Cat."

"Good luck, everyone."

The boys split up, going in opposite directions of each other. I could still see where they were from the lights on their suits, but as they continued walking, it faded and faded until they were almost completely gone.

Holding my rifle over my shoulder, Cat used her flashlight to reveal the narrow path in between the monstrous electronic devices, spinning and whirring and beeping and flashing.

I had no idea how large this room was, especially since it was so dark and difficult to see. The rows seemed to stretch on endlessly; where was the back wall? I suppose it had to be quite big in order to hold everything that kept _Berglemir _from being sucked away into a black hole or another galaxy.

"I'm…I'm really scared, Jadey," Cat admitted fearfully.

"It's okay. You're with me and no alien is going to want to come near us, right?" I told her almost playfully.

She nodded, immediately convinced.

We continued down a different hallway, looping around the corner and starting a new one. Over and over we made our way around the entire energy room. I felt tired, but was so excited at the same time that my emotions became neutral. Cat was panting like a dog (ironically), wiping her sweaty face on her sleeves, her knuckles white from clutching the flashlight.

"I'm not even sure if the Chillsnare is down here," I mused. "It was outside the last time we saw it, and I have no idea how it managed to get out there in the first place, but I'm sure it'll come back inside, if it's not already."

"Why can't it just leave us alone?" Cat whined.

"Maybe it thinks humans taste delicious."

"Stop!" She covered her ears like a baby, shaking her head and not wanting to listen to my words anymore.

"Oh come on, Cat. I was just kidd—"

"Ahhh!" There was a sudden shout that sounded like André. Cat took off like a rocket, running through the maze of sizzling inventions to find her boyfriend. I tailed behind her by a few yards, my ears filling with a high-pitched whistle.

"Jade! Cat!" That was Beck. His footsteps were loud and heavy, shaking the floor.

"André!"

I almost tripped over Cat as she kneeled down in the middle of the row, grabbing onto her fallen boyfriend's shoulders. André was sprawled across the ground, cussing and wincing as he stood up, rubbing his knee.

"What happened?" Beck demanded, breathing hard through his nose.

"I found the toolbox," André grunted. "And tripped over it."

I rolled my eyes. I had never once took him for a klutz: that was usually Tori or Robbie. But I guess in even the most dire situation any person could make a simple mistake as their emotions drove them into a survival mode and pushed the little things away.

"False alarm. Terribly sorry," he mumbled, using Cat's hand to stand up and brushing off his pants, frowning with his own frustration.

"Okay, so I found—"

Two things happened in the next moment before Beck could finish his sentence. In the corner of my eye, I saw a glimpse of something near the ceiling that was moving at a high speed, glints of scaly armor and beady yellow orbs floating in the darkness.

Cat had seen it too. She raised her gun and fired.

There was a pop, hiss, and a thick white smoke filled the air.

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**Cliffhanger! If anyone is wondering, the story is about halfway over, maybe a little less though. But don't freak out, new twists coming soon! :D**


	10. Its Weak Spot

**Happy one year anniversary to me! :D That's right. Today marks my first year of being on this site. It feels like just yesterday I was writing my first story...now I have six, two of which are a current work in progress. :)**

**Super big thanks to: Guest, LizabethScissors, and Priestess Mia. :D**

**This is a pretty epic chapter if I do say so myself, and a lot of great stuff happens. Don't rush, sit back and enjoy the ride!**

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CHAPTER 10  
Jade's POV

Everyone was coughing and screaming in terror. I tripped backwards trying to fan my face as the fumes went up my nose and mouth. It tasted like pollution and hot steam and carried the scent of gas.

"Cat!" André called.

I felt arms wrap around my body—thinking that it was the Chillsnare, I started thrashing, struggling to get a better grip on my gun when Beck's warm breath touched my ear and I heard him say, "It's me."

"Jade! Beck!" Cat said.

There was another hand that grasped my arm. It was Cat herself, holding her gun by her side with André close. "I'm sorry!" she apologized as we made eye contact. "I thought I saw the—"

"HSSS!" A hiss that no human could make out rang out from the ceiling. I caught sight of a large shadow bobbing back and forth and pushing through the thick smoke towards us.

"Everybody get down!" Beck shouted, drawing out two small handguns and letting loose a few fires. The bullets cut clean paths in the smolder and ricocheted off of steel pipes and the concrete ceiling.

"Head to do the door!" André instructed, struggling to stand up and looking up, searching frantically. "Jade, take Cat and go!"

"What about you two?" I said, scared for their safety while tugging Cat up by her waist, throwing my rifle over my shoulder and dragging her away. As the smoke cleared the farther we got, the echoes of Beck and André screaming at each to 'hurry up and shoot the dang thing' were pummeling through my ears and mind.

The Chillsnare was hissing loudly, clicking its teeth together and darting back and forth, still almost ten feet away from the boys. From the distance Cat and I were, the looming figure of its body became evident: eight feet long but possibly even bigger, balancing on the rafter with its legs and tentacle-arms, snatching at the air to clear it. The front of it was in the shape of a bulky domed helmet, its jaws open almost a foot wide to reveal the crammed mess of pointed backwards, steak-knife teeth.

Practically throwing Cat down, I raced back to Beck and André, screaming and trying to get their attention.

André shot three consecutive times. The lead chunks went flying and struck the Chillsnare it what looked like it shoulder before bouncing off harmlessly, thudding to the floor like dented marbles.

_Must have bulletproof skin_, I thought grimly.

The Chillsnare, still shrouded in the mystery of the fog and smoke, was lunging forward from its perch with its dangerous tentacles that had killed Tori, and probably Robbie as well.

Desperate to help out my husband, I started to fire my own gun at the ceiling at random points as ran, hoping to hit something. I ended up having to duck and cover when the bullets starting raining back down on me, and I found Beck lying on the ground, looking stunned for some reason.

"Beck! Beck!" I shouted, standing above him and waving my arms wildly. André was still firing, his face contorted in concentration as he struggled to locate the moving mass of the hissing, fighting alien. It was weaving back and forth, hanging under the beams and then climbing up again, taunting us.

"It's freaking bulletproof!" André cried.

"So shoot it in the eye!" I replied loudly, getting up and aiming my gun up wildly. The smoke was receding now, and its bright golden eyes were obvious, the black pupils dilating in anger. I stuck my weapon in that direction, but couldn't pull the trigger fast enough.

The Chillsnare launched its head at me from its rafter, its neck stretching to an impossible length and mouth unhinging to open another six inches. Beck leaped up, his gun pointed forward into the end of the Chillsnare's gaping jaw that was a black hole of a throat. Beck's arm was literally inside of its mouth before he squeezed the trigger.

BAM!

The Chillsnare's mouth clamped together, erupting in a squeal before withdrawing again in the shadows. Beck screamed and was lifted almost a foot off the ground before he dropped, curling up shaking and sweating, hugging his left arm to his chest.

"Beck," I repeated, kneeling down and grabbing his shoulder. "Beck!"

"Jade," he whispered, looking up at me before revealing what used to be a full left-arm: it was now a bloody, one-quarter long stump. Beck had tears on his face, his chest stained with red as he tried wiping his 'arm' on it.

"André! André!" I shouted, over and over, pulling Beck close to me and helping stop the intense blood flow spilling from the wound. I could see the end of the jagged bone where it had broken and the twisted strips of skin hanging like ribbons.

"I don't know where the Chillsnare went!" his response was panicked.

"It doesn't matter! Come here, please! It bit Beck's arm off!"

André was next to me in an instant, giving orders to Cat which I couldn't comprehend as he picked up my husband, who had already passed out from shock of the blood loss. Cat took up the rear as we escaped, leaving behind a dripping line of blood and sweat, and running down to the medical bay.

I grabbed the entire box of gauze from the first-aid kit, taking out a few rolls and tossing them to André, who had already removed Beck's shirt and was wrapping them around his arm and shoulder. Cat injected a syringe of painkillers into his body and backed away, her eyes burning in fear.

I hopped onto the table next to my unconscious husband, kissing his neck and face, trying not to cry. He was still sweating even though he wasn't awake, and his stump was starting to twitch a little. André and Cat left the room to stand in the doorway, leaving us alone.

Against my will, tears ran down my face and dripped off my nose onto his chest.

_Please don't die on me, Beck. I love you_.

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Beck's POV

My arm was on fire. I could still feel its teeth—sharpened to the point where it cut through my skin and muscle like butter—digging into the skin above my elbow. The searing pain remained, poison injecting into my bloodstream before it finally made the clean slice as my limb was severed off.

The feeling kept coming back and back to me, sending vile up my throat. I struggled to open my eyes, but my lids were too heavy and I slipped away into the darkness.

I had nightmares in this painkiller-induced sleep: the Chillsnare clamped its mouth around my wife's head, tearing her head from her body. Jade's body staggered towards me, arm held out in a pleading way before she toppled over, blood spilling on the floor around her. In another Cat was shredded to pieces and André was eaten alive.

I wanted to die. I had to get away from these visions.

Something wasn't right.

Besides the horrific hallucinations, I could feel my breathing beginning to get shallow. My heart was thumping quicker than normal and my skin was starting to tingle with pinpricks.

What is going on?

My forehead started sweating and I shivered, the drops of perspiration feeling like ice. I was unable to react and move; get someone's attention or help myself. Their voices were getting loud until it felt they were screaming directly at me—but they weren't.

"What is happening to him?" Jade asked worriedly.

"I don't know. I think the Chillsnare might've injected some poison into his bloodstream when it tore his arm off. André's trying to find which antibiotic we could administer to slow it down," Cat replied.

"Is it killing him?" Jade sounded so scared and upset. I wanted nothing more than to wake up and hug her and kiss her and tell her that I'd never leave her.

Cat was silent.

André came into the room, his footsteps solid and penetrating. "All I could find was this. We could try and see if it works." There was the rustle of unwrapping plastic and then a sharp stab near my collarbone.

I heard myself grunt and everyone seemed to reel back when I made the sound.

"Beck?" My wife was desperate, her hands patting my face in an attempt to get me to open my eyes. "No, honey, please wake up."

_I'm trying, but I can't. I'm too tired. It feels like the energy is being drained right out of my soul. _

I don't want to die.

"We absolutely need to get out of here. He needs professional medical help," André went on. I felt my body beginning to twitch, curling my arm into my side. "Do you know if he managed to kill the Chillsnare?"

"No," Jade replied snappily. "He just shot the stupid thing and it ripped his arm off. I think he did hurt it though. That might be its weakness. Anything that goes down its throat; we have to kill it from the inside."

"And how on Earth are you going to manage that?"

"Maybe we could get it to eat a bomb or something. It's obviously bulletproof, but maybe if we find a really big gun we could blow off its body and then force an explosive into the cavity. And the Chillsnare will go out with a big boom," Jade's tone was sadistic.

"We don't want to kill ourselves, either, Jade. What's the use of attacking the Chillsnare if we end up dying too?" André pressed.

"Okay, maybe it doesn't need to be a bomb. But what else could be strong enough to take out a ten-foot long, four-hundred pound space alien that no one else in the world has seen before?"

"Come up with something and come up with it quick." A hand came down on my good shoulder. I was fading fast now, the pain depleting from whatever medicine André had given me. But I knew it wasn't going to be enough, nor last the time my friends needed to unlock the door to the _Jovian_ so we could escape back to Earth. Waiting seventy-two hours for the NASA rescue crew wasn't an option either.

"What do you think I'm trying to do? My husband could be dying as we speak!" Jade was close to tears.

This put me into a protective, panic mode for her. I needed to hold her and feel her body against mine. I started panting in the effort to 'wake up,' and the others thought that something was wrong. Well, there was, but not for the reasons that they were thinking.

Cat grabbed a syringe, pushing the needle into the skin of my right arm. The sedative reached me immediately; there was so much that I fell into the unforgiving world of unconsciousness without another struggle.

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Jade's POV

Beck went limp, his breathing returning to normal and his face relaxing. I eased the grip on my hair, saving it from being ripped from my scalp.

"I think two of us should go and find the bomb, or whatever the heck we are going to use."

"I'll go, and Cat, if you'd like to come…" I said before André had a chance to volunteer himself. Cat nodded, but André looked a little more concerned, stepping towards me and practically shoving his girlfriend to hide behind him.

"How about her and I go, and you stay with Beck? He's your husband, after all."

"I…I don't want to," my voice was shaky.

André sensed what I was trying to say, and his frown turned into an awkward grimace. "Well, I just don't want anything to happen to the both of you. We've already had more than enough deaths, I don't think I could handle another."

"Nothing will happen. Cat and I will go down to the equipment room and look for something that won't kill the rest of us, but can at least take down the Chillsnare long enough for us to fix the machines and board the _Jovian_. Then we'll be out of this mess of a space station."

"And in order to get the Chillsnare to eat it, someone's going to need to get very, _very _close to it," André pointed out. He glanced at the two of us. "Who wants to be the bait?"

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**Need I say more than :O?**

**So, it's good news for the gang that they figured out the Chillsnare's weak spot, but Beck is missing more than half of his left arm and is poisoned and could die at any moment so...**

**It wasn't overly disgusting, was it? Not like the other previous scenes. Anyway, happy first year anniversary, if any fans out there have been following me since day 1! *insert heart here***


	11. Taken Risks

**Ta-da! It is here! I actually opened up the Word document and found that I had written this chapter like last month, but never edited it. So that's all I had to do and now you guys can read it!**

**Anyway...since I don't have anything to say I will tell you all a wonderful story of what happened to me today. In band, I hit myself in the face with my own clarinet and then I cut the inside of my lip somehow. Just an insight of how much of a klutz the author of this story is, hahah. :D**

**Hugs to: YeahI'mSmilingButInsideI'mDyin, Priestess Mia, BADE, and LizabethScissors. ;)**

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CHAPTER 11  
Jade's POV

"We're not going to decide on that yet," I said before Cat could start freaking out. But I already knew that I was going sacrifice myself and risk possible death to save my friends. I had let Tori die, after all. This was the least I could do for her. André and Cat weren't even engaged for Pete's sake, and I doubted that they would break up anytime soon. I had been with Beck for six years. Sure it wasn't _that _long of a time, but it was better than zero.

And I didn't even know if he was going to survive, with the Chillsnare's poison infecting his bloodstream. I wasn't going to live if he didn't.

"We have to do it soon," André persisted.

"Let's worry about it later," I retorted, feeling tears in my eyes. "Come on, Cat," I called to the smaller woman. André started to say something but I interrupted, "I have a gun and so does she. The Chillsnare is in the energy room. We'll be fine, okay." The look on his face was of fear and concern. Taking up my rifle and a pack of extra bullets, I grabbed the redhead's hand and pulled her into the hall, without a second glance to my dying husband.

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"Beck's going to be okay, though, right, Jade?" Cat asked when we were well away from the medical bay. "If we can complete the mission and get off _Berglemir _fast, we can save him."

"I hope so," I seethed, incredibly touchy about the subject.

"I wish NASA would just come up and rescue already," she sighed.

"We can't wait for them. It could be too late by then. No one knows how strong the Chillsnare venom is." Cat contracted her eyebrows at my statement, sticking out her bottom lip, something she did whenever she was about to burst into tears.

"I'm glad André hasn't gotten hurt yet. I don't know what I would do if he was." _How the heck am I even holding up when Beck is missing more than half of his arm…for me? If I had gotten out of the way in time, the Chillsnare wouldn't have need to chomp off his limb. This is all my fault. But I'm going to find a way to fix it_.

We swerved down the steamy halls, the walls feeling like they were moving in closer to crush us to death. I felt small and pathetic, fighting for my life in an environment I was not accustomed to.

"Here we are. You go first."

"Aww," Cat mumbled. She didn't protest anymore as I stared her down, using all of the force in her tiny body to ram the door open. It barely creaked under her weight. I took the handle, planting my feet firmly against the ground and pushing myself onto it as hard as I could. With a snap, the door slowly opened under our struggle. When the gap was big enough for me to fit through, Cat slipped inside first, yanking it back so I could step in with ease.

The equipment room was large with packages spilled on the floor in heaps from where Beck and André had hurriedly grabbed what they needed and then forgotten to clean up afterwards.

"Look for bombs, explosives, poison…anything that could properly dispose of a ten-foot alien monster," I told her and Cat scurried off to the right side, standing on her tiptoes to reach the highest shelves. I reached for the walls on the left, my hands going through the items quickly and tossing any aside that served no purpose for me at the moment.

Packets of freeze-dried food, water and oxygen filters, glow sticks, batteries, lamps and new suits piled up behind me. Figuring out that I was probably in the wrong section, I scooted down a few yards, jumping into a large, open box.

I hit the jackpot.

Neat stacks of ammo were knocked over under my mass, heavily padded briefcases causing a domino affect on everything else. Picking one up, I propped it on my knee and opened it up, finding six gray capsules encased by a foam mattress. I gingerly held one in my hand, shaking it gently and hearing a sloshing noise coming from the inside.

"Cat!" I hollered. "Look what I found!"

She bobbed over, peering inside the box and helping me out. I knelt on the floor as she leaned against my shoulder. Re-opening the case, I let her look at the capsules.

"Why are there so many of them?"

"Dunno." I noticed a small latch on the inside of the top half, curiously sticking my finger out to unhook it. A secret compartment fell down and a piece of paper fluttered out.

Cat grabbed it before I could and started reading it allowed.

"'Only use in case of emergency. Consumption of poison is fatal.'"

"Let me see that," I said, snatching it out of her hands. Cat shrugged off, watching as my eyes scanned across the sheet quickly. The only instructions on it were the ones she had read. An odd thought struck my mind. _NASA obviously stocked this item here. What did they mean, 'only use in case of emergency?' Did they know something like this was going to happen_?

"Can we take this to the guys now?" Cat interrupted.

"Well, let's get out of here, but we're not going to André and Beck."

"Then where are we going?"

"The energy room."

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"But Jadey! That's where the Chillsnare is!" Cat wore a look of agitation, rocking back and forth on her feet with worry.

"Exactly. The longer we wait to kill it, the less time Beck will have. Don't worry, Cat. It'll be easy. You read the instructions. 'Consumption of poison is fatal.' All we need to do is get the Chillsnare to eat whatever is in the canisters, and then it'll die. We don't have to tell André. He'll just worry unnecessarily," I explained, tugging on her hand to lead her out of the equipment room.

"I'm not so sure about it, Jadey."

I started to ignore her as I dragged her to the front of _Berglemir_. Crouching down, I pushed the door of the energy room, flashing my light into the misty darkness, a wave of heat almost knocking me over. _Berglemir _was losing its fight to the menacing creature. There appeared to be nothing on or around the stairs, so I slowly made my descent, the handgun and one capsule of poison in my hand, the rest back safely at the top.

"Jade!" Cat called, alarmed at my bravery.

"Shush! Just come down here and help me find the Chillsnare."

"No." Her eyes were as big as oranges from my position at the bottom of the stairs. "I…I'm going to get André."

"Wait, don't do that—" But it was too late. Cat picked up the briefcase and scampered back to the medical bay.

_Crap_.

"Goddang you," I muttered. Now I needed to hurry things up. For starters, I was alone and no doubt André would blow his top when he found out what I was doing and carry me out of here. This was my only chance. I was desperate.

Continuing forward, I shined my light across the ceiling, sighing in relief when there was nothing up there. But I was also doing it to catch the attention of the Chillsnare. If I lived past this, I would most certainly deem this my stupidest act to date.

My footsteps almost sounded as loud as my heartbeat. I repeated in my head over and over that this was for Beck's sake. He risked his life for me, and in was only in my best interest if I did the same for him. If he died, so would I.

The seconds ticked by agonizingly slow, and for a moment I actually wanted Cat to hurry up and bring André so that he could help me out. Sweat dripped down my face, which was absolutely disgusting, and I felt the pressure of defeat hanging over my head, walking back towards the exit when there was a faint rattling coming from above.

I froze, an adrenaline rush pushing through my tired body. My ears strained to hear any more sounds, and there was a creak moving along the length of the ceiling, as if something heavy was trying to get from one side to the other. Shining up my light, I saw the waving tail of the Chillsnare, thick spikes running along the top and bottom. The rest of its body was facing away from me. Carefully, I pushed the button on the canister and the top popped up. Inside, the poison was clear and slimy, bubbles appearing at the surface as it sloshed around distastefully.

Setting the container on the floor, open-side up, I started making a racket to get the Chillsnare's attention.

"Hey! Did eating all that human make you thirsty?" The words were almost like poison on my own lips. But I had to keep making jabs at the creature. Yanking out my gun, I ducked and covered my ears as I shot blindly at its backside.

The Chillsnare hissed loudly, spinning around so fast I thought it was going to fall right off the beams. Its eyes were yellow and annoyed, head swinging back and forth. It started to descend its body, holding on with its tail and dangling in the hot air.

"You can have this if you want!" I pointed and wave obviously at the canister.

"HHHRRRSSSHHH," the Chillsnare replied, its long, greasy tongue flicking through its pointed fangs. Two tentacles reached out and I panicked, tripping over my legs and landing on my butt as its arms got closer and closer to me. Instead of grabbing me, it swung one tentacle out, swatting the canister of poison and knocking it completely over. I only barely managed to leap out of the forming puddle. The Chillsnare made no indescribable noises deep from within its throat as it retreated, not wanting anything more to have to do with me.

Slipping to get to my feet, I ran as fast as I could towards the exit. The Chillsnare was gone again in the shadows, and I had a feeling it wasn't going to come after me. Looking up, I saw André standing at the top of the stairs.

"WHAT DID YOU DO, JADE?" he yelled, taking my arm roughly and pulling me up the last steps. _Oh wow, not even going to see if I'm okay, huh? I see how it is_. "What did you do?" he repeated, shaking my shoulders roughly.

"The Chillsnare…" I gasped, my head snapping back on my neck.

"You're down here gambling with your life, trying to force Cat to do the same, when your husband is fighting to keep his!"

My anger only grew. That was certainly not my intention. "I was doing I test," I garbled, going delirious from the shaking. André set me down, but his hand was wrapped firmly around my wrist, almost painfully.

"Test? What, to see how hungry the Chillsnare is?"

"No. The poison case. Did Cat not let you see it?"

"Yes she did. It was missing one capsule, so I assumed you had taken it and were trying to kill the Chillsnare with it." In the same breath he added in a much lower tone, "Did it work?"

"Grr…no," I growled. "I opened the canister and put it on the ground. The Chillsnare's tentacles came down, I thought to grab me or take the canister, but instead it just knocked it away, like it wanted nothing to do with it."

"So what?"

I shook my head. "Don't you understand, André? It won't eat the poison, or any explosives for that matter on its own. You were right. Someone needs to be the bait and force it down the Chillsnare's throat voluntarily."

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We returned to the medical bay, both of us stunned and upset by the realization. Cat was sitting by Beck's bed, stroking his forehead. I dropped my gun to the floor and went over to them.

"Yay! You're alive, Jadey," Cat said, relieved.

"Yippie. How is he?"

"The Chillsnare's venom is strong. It's already burned through all the sedation I've given him," she replied sadly.

As if to answer, Beck started moaning loudly, his only hand coming up to slap at the air drunkenly. "No…no…" he mumbled. I moved closer, twisting our fingers together. "Jade?" he grunted, speech slurred as his eyes rolled in their sockets.

"I'm right here, honey."

"I…heard….you talking," he gasped, his neck lolling on the table. André adjusted the pillow, but Beck was trying to fight against the restrictions his body was under. "You…need…bait."

"Uh-huh. There's no other way to kill the Chillsnare."

"Yes." His lips were hardly moving at this point. With his chest heaving for breath and Cat bringing over an oxygen mask, Beck wheezed the three words: "I'll…be….bait…"

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**Jade was being pretty crazy and daring, but I guess anyone would if their husband only had a few days left to live...**

**Oh well. Does anyone have any theories why the Chillsnare actually let her live? Hope you liked it!**


	12. Plan in Motion

**WHOO I finally finished! I just went back to school today and should be doing my homework...but writing this was much more interesting. ;)**

**Hope everyone is enjoying their new year so far. Time to start fresh and new, right? XD**

**Special shout-outs and thanks to those who reviewed the previous chappie: bade, LizabethScissors, and Ariana Fan XD. **

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CHAPTER 12  
Jade's POV

"No, no you won't," I said firmly with André raising an eyebrow at me.

Cat picked up the oxygen mask and held it over Beck's face, but he shook his head violently—so violently I didn't think he was capable of completing the action and it looked like he was trying to break his neck. His good arm came up, swatting at the air and Cat took this as a sign to back off.

"Yes…" he coughed, opening his eyes as wide as half-dollar coins as and staring directly at me. "I…I'm dying. It can't…can't hurt me anymore…Let it end my…misery…" And with that, he started crying. His eyes were squeezed shut as the tears flowed down his cheeks and the side of his head. I reached for his right hand and his fingers fought to wrap around mine.

"I love you Beck," I whispered close to his ear, "You're going to live, okay? You're going to get off of this space station alive. I promise." My voice shook and cracked as I forced the remaining words out.

Beck continued shaking, his whole body like it was being electrocuted. His face was shiny with sweat and tears, matting the hair against his scalp. "J-J-Jade…don't make p-p-pro-promises you c-can't keep…" His chest heaved, coughs and moans escaping his lips. "Please…let me…do i-i-it…"

"Jade," André interrupted, stepping up with the oxygen mask in his hands. "He needs this. Now."

"Wait…" Beck huffed, "One hour…I go down…to k-k-kill Chillsnare-e…you save y-yourselves…" André clamped the breathing apparatus onto his mouth before my husband could pass out. His body slumped, twitching, but he spoke no more.

"So what the heck are we going to do now?" I shouted, Cat flinching at the harsh tone in my voice.

"Come with me out in the hall, Jade," André replied calmly. "Cat, just keep an eye on Beck."

"Kay kay."

André took my hand without my permission and led me out the door. He shut it firmly behind us and leaned on it, turning to face me. "Beck wants to be the sacrifice now," he started.

"Glad you noticed," I retorted hotly.

André raised his eyebrow, looking surprisingly cool-headed. But then again, his usually peaceful behavior was the main reason why he was considered to be one of the best astronauts in the business. He didn't easily lose his head in any sort of crisis, and I thought that's why him and Cat were so perfect for each other. He was her rock. Like Beck was mine.

"Beck's not going to be the 'sacrifice,'" André went on, "because I am."

"Oh no you're not. What's going to happen to Cat if you don't make it? You can't leave her all by herself. That's why it's my job to do this. _I'm _going to risk my life for the rest of you," I said.

He said. "I knew it was natural we would be arguing over this. Of course you wouldn't take to my idea. All right. I think that I should do it, Jade, because you have Beck to take care of. If you died, where would that leave Beck? He'll be completely helpless."

"He's already completely helpless, André," I snapped. "And…and he's dying too. I won't be able to live if he doesn't. You know that." I scrunched my hands into fists, feeling the strange burn in my nose and throat that told me I was going to start crying. "Doesn't Cat mean anything to you, _at all_? Beck and I have been happily married for six years, plus the time we dated in college. We've done a lot together. I would be satisfied it were to end now. Not that I want it to, but I'm just saying, that, you know, it'll be okay if we both die."

"I still don't think you should do it. You guys are married nonetheless. Cat and I are simply in a relationship. Relationships aren't always supposed to last forever anyway, remember?" I gaped at him. Did I really hear what he was saying correctly? That he was willing to give up his redheaded princess to save Beck and me? It wasn't right. "If you go, Jade, then Beck will die as soon as he hears the news of you not coming back. Tori and Robbie are already gone. If you and him leave as well…what am I going to do with my life, knowing that four of my best friends are dead, and I just sat there and did nothing about it?"

"You have Cat. Live for her. She'll need you André. You can't just leave her now…" My voice box stopped working and I gazed at the opposite wall awkwardly, trying to not let him show my sadness.

"This…it's not right, though," he garbled, forcing the argument to continue longer.

"Of course it's not. Does it look like I want to do this? We don't have a choice—"

"Then let me—"

"No can do, Harris. This conversation is over and the decision is final."

"But…"

I snapped in that moment. Eyes fully watering, causing the images in front of me to distort, my throat tightened as I choked out, "I don't think Beck is going to make it off this ship. We can die here together. You two need to go on and let everyone know what happened."

André was silent, looking bewildered at the fact that I had no hope my husband was going to survive this ordeal, and eventually, neither would I. "Jade…"

"We're done talking about this. Let's hurry up and get it over with."

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Beck was thrashing under his mask, his eyelids fluttering and face contorted. He managed to form half-sentences, muffled and slurred, but showing us that he hadn't given up his fight yet. "Hurry…don't…sleep…you're dead…Fight…help…" I smoothed the hair across his sticky forehead, a small smile covering my lips. _Don't worry, honey. In an hour or so, we'll both go back to living in peace_.

"What's the plan?" Cat piped up, walking over and falling into André's embrace.

"We'll move Beck to a gurney and wheel him down to entrance gate leading to the _Jovian_. Certain wall panels come off if you didn't already know, and behind them are an extra storage space. Beck will be in there and we'll lock him up nice and safe, then go down to the energy room, kill the Chillsnare, and figure out how to open up the doors to the _Jovian_. Then we go back down there, and get the heck out of here," André said.

"Sounds wonderful," I commented.

"Who's going to be the 'bait?'" Cat asked innocently, her eyes full of fear.

"It's not you," André assured, shooting me a glance with a glint of anger. "Don't worry about it, okay, babe? Just focus on helping us get back home."

Cat put on the saddest face humanly possible, sticking out her bottom lip and her amber eyes turned wide. "But…I don't want any of you to die."

"We won't," I said, not making a full promise to her.

"Okay," she sniffed.

"Cat, can you go get the case of poison really quick? I want to see it again before we go," André said, changing the subject. I pulled up a chair and sat down next to my husband; he stopped moving as much and seemed calmed by my presence.

Cat retrieved the case for her boyfriend, handling it with much caution, and they sat down by my feet to open it together. There was one empty slot in the foam packing, where I had taken the canister and attempted to feed it to the Chillsnare.

"This piece of paper says 'Only use in case of emergency. Consumption of poison is fatal,'" André noted. "What kind of emergency are they talking about?" He tapped his chin. "There were six capsules when you first opened it, right Jade?" I grunted a 'yes,' not wanting to waste my breath. "Consumption is fatal…only use in emergency…six canisters of poison…" he froze, licking his lip nervously. "And there were six of us when we first boarded _Berglemir_."

"Suicide poison?" I suggested.

André nodded. "I guess NASA really did prepare us for anything," he sighed grimly. "It's too late for us to take any of this stuff ourselves now. We either get out of here, or die trying."

Beck was breathing shallowly, his breaths short and strained. I would've thought he was dead with the exception of the rise and fall of his chest. "Let's get ready now," I said, not wanting to waste another minute.

Cat helped me pack a bag full of ammunition and we armed ourselves with every gun and weapon we could find in the room. We wouldn't have time to go back to one of the storage rooms. Every second we wasted meant more time for Beck's body to fail, collapse, and die. André lifted Beck onto a gurney and strapped him down carefully, quieting down the oxygen machine and placing it by his side.

He pushed the bed towards the door, and I gave the room one last fleeting look.

"Are you ready, Jade?" Cat asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

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Beck's POV

I was aware that I was moving all of a sudden. Very, very quickly. Wind whistled in my ears, my vision becoming blotted with spots of black and white, indicating that I was zooming down a hall of some sort on a portable bed. I could hear the stressed breathing of my friends as they walked by my sides. I lolled my head back and forth on the pillow uncomfortably, trying to find a spot that made me feel relaxed.

Suddenly, we came to a stop. There was a grunting sound followed by a sharp pop. I was pushed headfirst into some sort of dark cave—a hole in the wall. Well, it wasn't really a hole but a hidden storage area. There were a few spaces on _Berglemir _like this, where the walls were hollow and could be used as either a place to hide or store some items. The only light came from the spaces between the individual slats of wall, and the air was dry and cold. Cat's face hovered above mine, her red locks tickling my face.

"Stay safe, okay, Becky?" she whispered, patting my shoulder. "Try not to make too much noise or attract attention to yourself. We'll be back soon, so just hang on until then. We'll get on the _Jovian _and go back to Earth and you can get proper treatment and recover." She disappeared, and André replaced her spot.

"Hey man, don't worry. I'll watch over your wife." He winked and I wanted to laugh, but was too weak to even manage a chuckle. "Here. Just in case of an emergency. Only use it if you're under attack, though, but I doubt that'll happen." A cold, loaded gun was shoved into my right hand. I dropped it next to my side, shuddering of the idea of possibly shooting another alien.

And lastly Jade appeared to me.

"Hi, hon. Everything is going to work out fine. Don't give up. I'll be back, you hear me?" She kissed my forehead gently, running her fingers through my greasy hair. "I love you." She opened my right palm, pressing her hand against it. "I love you very much, Beck."

Jade forced my hand to curl into a fist, pulling her fingers away. She waved a final good-bye, and André put the wall panel up once more, throwing me into a terrible, lonely darkness.

Quickly, I opened my hand, having felt the object Jade had given me. My fingers caressed the edges of a small, smooth circle, tracing over the worn scratches and bumps. Then I realized what it was.

My wedding ring to her.

Jade would never take off or give up something so precious and close to her heart. Unless…unless…

She wasn't planning on coming back.

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**Fun fact: I wrote the conversation with Jade and André in July 2012. It was actually the first part of the story I wrote. :) And now you guys finally get to read it!**

**So just a quick heads-up, there's probably only a few more chapters until the end. We have finally reached the rising action, and it's just gonna get more exciting from here. Thanks to everyone who's kept up with it so far, and expect more to come very soon! :)**


	13. Sacrifice

**I'm pretty satisfied with the way this turned out, so hopefully you guys think the same. It's the penultimate chapter, by the way. One more to go and this story will be complete!**

**Love to: Guest, LizabethScissors, and bade. ;)**

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CHAPTER 13  
Jade's POV

André bent over and fit the panel back on the wall while Cat and I watched. My heart was burning, twisting angrily inside my chest and threatening to rip apart my ribs to escape. Running my tongue over my teeth, I pressed down and tried to make it bleed, wanting to have a new pain to cover up the one I was feeling in my heart.

"Come on, Jade." André's tone was sad. Cat tugged on my arm and we walked towards the energy room with me knowing that this was going to be the last thing I ever did. I didn't look back, fearing that the tears would be seen and I would chicken out at the last second.

Every single step I took was a step closer to my death. It hung over my head like a banner, reminding me that I was not leaving this space station. _"You're getting closer. You're getting closer_." I could hear the invisible voice saying in my head. I nearly started sweating, the hair on the back of my neck rising and a chill ran down my spine. Cat wasn't speaking, something unusual as she was the most talkative person I knew. André was playing the role of a brave leader even though it was blatantly obvious he was just as terrified as the rest of us.

We stood at the end of the hall where the cockpit and energy room door were visible. As I walked forward, it felt like people were screaming at me from the sides, telling me that this was a bad idea and I should walk away. I believed them, but couldn't stop myself and turn around. This was it. I was forcing myself to my own doom.

I set the briefcase full of poison by my knee as André rapped on the door carefully, using the butt of his rifle to push it open. He glanced at us, and then back into the gloomy darkness. A wave of heat rushed out and so did a cloud of smoke. The Chillsnare seemed to have been busy destroying _Berglemir_'s main energy source. I had no idea we were dealing with a creature more sadistic than myself, even when I was still in that phase during high school (which I had now grown out of).

"I don't want to do this anymore," Cat piped up.

"Sorry, babe, it's the only way," André replied apologetically.

We looked at each other silently, exchanging looks. Without another word, we stepped into the hot, black room, each of us saying our own prayers.

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Beck's POV

I kept my hand wrapped tightly around the wedding ring, my cheeks sticky with flowing tears. _She's not coming back…she doesn't plan on coming back_…Why, why would Jade do this to me?

I had offered to volunteer myself, explaining it in the best way that I could that I should be the bait. It wouldn't matter if I was killed as long as the beast was dead as well. They wouldn't need to worry about taking care of me, nor freak that the Chillsnare would come after them. It was a win-win situation. I would be saved too, as the pain was intense and harsh, and I was already slowly dying as it was.

The thoughts continued churning in my mind and making me sick to my stomach. I felt my breathing quicken yet the machine stayed as silent as always. Glancing out the small slit, I wanted to focus on something else and decided to keep an eye out in the hall. And boy did I unexpectedly see something that scared me to death.

The shadow of a massive creature, slithering across the floor like a snake, long tentacles reach out to push itself forward. It was hissing, its forked tongue darting through serrated teeth.

_Oh_.

_My_.

_ God_.

The Chillsnare moved slowly, its head shifting to take in the surroundings. It had left the energy room and was now exploring the rest of the space station. Clamping its mouth shut, yellow eyes bugging out of its thick cranium, I saw its nostrils dilate, picking up a scent and then swinging its head in my direction.

I almost passed out, puffing my cheeks and remaining as still as possible. The Chillsnare clambered onto its stubby back legs, raising itself to a towering high and almost banging its head on the ceiling. My heart was beating so quickly I was sure the alien could hear it.

Wagging its long, scaled tail to maintain balance, the Chillsnare backed away from the wall panel I was hidden behind. I refused to breathe. It let out a harsh snarl, a deep guttural noise coming form the back of its throat. Swaying forward, tentacles squishing against the linoleum floor, it moved forward and disappeared from my sight.

I had no idea how long it had been before I finally started breathing again. I made an encounter with the Chillsnare, and _lived_. But that meant…if the Chillsnare was out and not in the energy room but my friends were…then it was going to trap them and kill them _all _for good.

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Jade's POV

"I, I think I found it," Cat announced.

"You did?" André replied, eagerly looking around his girlfriend's small hands to the object she was pointing it. It was a tall machine, karate-chopped in half, sparks flying as motors struggled to keep working even though every spin they made broke them further. Parts were sizzling and chips were blinking a variety of colors, but mostly different shades of red.

"Okay, so put the freaking thing back together so we can get out of here," I said nervously, the flashlight in my hands shaking.

"It's going to take a while," she apologized.

"Do it as fast as you can, Lil' Red," André said. "We'll keep a look—"

"HRRR! HSSS! GRRR!" There was a terrible sound coming from the top of the stairs, the entrance of the energy room. A form was blocking the faint light coming down and I managed to make out the horrifying dome of the Chillsnare's head.

Cat screamed and the Chillsnare bolted down the stairs, practically skipping every step and landing on the floor, shaking the entire _Berglemir_ with its weight. Slashing out with sticky tentacles, hooks on each, tail rippling back and forth to maintain its balance, the alien tilted its head back and let out a deafening screech.

André whipped out his gun, taking random shots at the Chillsnare to deter it from its path towards us. "Hurry, Cat," he said as I joined him, firing bullets and aiming for the Chillsnare's golden orbs that stood out the most in the darkness.

We both split away from Cat's sides to protect her as she frantically attempted to fix the broken machine that would unlock the door to the _Jovian_. My boots could not gain traction on the ground and I slipped. The Chillsnare was approaching fast, swatting out with a limb and knocking over three machines at once, creating a new domino affect and a whole row collapsed. Dust and smoke rose, making everyone cough and hack and obscuring my vision of the creature.

I let loose a couple more shots, hearing a pained yelp, telling me that I had hit a vulnerable part of the alien.

"Where's the poison?" André screamed.

"I've got it. Come here, you big bloke!" I hollered for the Chillsnare, dropping the briefcase at my side and popping it open, picking up a canister and unscrewing the top, careful not to let any of the poison spill on my fingers.

"No, no! Let me do it, Jade!" André's footsteps were heavy as he tried to find me in the smoke. Cat was close to me, her fingers bloody and scratched from prying apart broken pieces and twisting the sharp gears back into place. Yet she didn't give up, her brown eyes keeping focused on her task and not the fact that she could be attacked at any moment. But that was my job, to protect her. The Chillsnare's shadow could be seen hopping in and out of the dust, first appearing from the ceiling and then dropping back to the ground, leaping off of machines and disappearing. "Jade! Where are you?"

"HKKKKKKKKK!" I was knocked over as something yanked my legs from right underneath me. My kneecap smashed painfully into the floor and I grunted, the canister falling from my hand and spilling a big puddle, thankfully in the direction that was away from Cat and me. "SCREEEE. HWA-HWA-HWA!" Something that sounded like a gross laugh filled the air.

"Help me!" I shouted, panicking and scrunching into a ball. The Chillsnare rocked back and forth above me, long teeth dripping with the poison that was killing my husband it its tongue extended, crawling up the side of its face and digging into the left eye socket that was now a bloody, empty hole.

I reached for the gun by my side, shooting it twice in the belly before my ammo ran out. The Chillsnare cackled as its natural armor caused the bullets to bounce off harmlessly and it jumped over me towards Cat. The redhead screamed as I watched from afar as the Chillsnare, inches in front of her, dragged a reptilian arm across her face, the razors of its hooks slashing into Cat's skin.

Blood sprayed out, and the Chillsnare made its creepy laugh before springing up into the rafters. Cat wallowed back and forth, tears mixing with her blood and soaking her hair a darker shade. The screwdriver and wrench slipped from her fingers as she cupped her face, making gasping and sobbing noises. I searched the ground beside her for the briefcase with the four canisters, but it wasn't there.

"André!" I yelled to the open, "Did you take the poison?"

His voice was muffled and impossible to understand, as I also had no idea which direction it was coming from. I rubbed my bruised knee, getting down and committing myself to an intense search for it.

I ended up tripping over the open case, my foot hooking under the handle and shutting it close. Re-opening it and grabbing a new bottle, I dragged everything over to where Cat was sitting. The Chillsnare descended on our left side, fifteen feet away, fury covering its alien features. I didn't think twice and charged, armed with an unloaded gun and a bottle of suicide poison.

The Chillsnare unhinged its jaw, opening its mouth to one hundred-eighty degrees. I drew my arm back, preparing to throw the bottle into its pie hole as it waddled towards me, tentacles outstretched to reel me in. I was inches away from its sharp hooks when someone screamed and ran into my side, putting me out of the Chillsnare's way. Thank God I hadn't opened the bottle yet, otherwise it would've spilled all over us.

The canister was taken out of my hands. Blinking, I saw the figure attack the Chillsnare. André yanked a knife out of his side pocket, welding the small blade like a maniac.

"I'm doing this Jade! Go back and help Cat!"

"No, André!"

But he didn't listen. André and the Chillsnare collided with a sound that rumbled throughout the entire station. The Chillsnare cough as André dove into its open mouth, probably regretting that it hadn't closed its jaw. It squealed in pain when he stabbed the knife in the soft tissue of its throat, body convulsing and dark blood running from the corners of its slack mouth.

André had already unscrewed the canister and was dumping it down the tunnel leading to its stomach and other organs. But he was too slow and the Chillsnare was too fast in the next second. Bottom jaw swinging up to close, André had no time to pull his body out of its mouth after he finished pouring the poison out.

And the Chillsnare cut him in half.

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**:O Uh-oh. So the Chillsnare killed André but could André kill the Chillsnare in time? **

**I usually don't ask, but since this is the second to last chapter, review? Maybe no one else will die if you do...**


	14. Don't Sleep Until You're Dead

**After a long journey, we have reached the end. Or, at least I have with writing it. You can go read it and tell me if the way this ended was any good.**

**One final shout-out to: Guest, andrea1301, LizabethScissors, and Love2Write21. **

**And before you begin reading the final chapter of "Don't Sleep Until You're Dead," here's something you should know: the Chillsnare is a girl.**

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CHAPTER 14  
Jade's POV

"André!" I screamed, watching his lower half, the legs and part of his waist, slump to the ground as the Chillsnare tilted its head back, swallowing the upper half noisily, forcing it all the way down. André Harris was gone. He was dead.

That should be me cut in half. _I _should've been the dead one.

The Chillsnare rolled its good eye, pulling its mouth into a malicious grin. I backed away, fleeing towards Cat. She was crying loudly in pain and the loss of her boyfriend. The alien began approaching us like before. Didn't André dump the poison? Why was it still alive?

I knelt down and pulled Cat into my arms. She buried her bloody face in my shoulder, shaking and sobbing violently. I snatched the gun from her hip and shot a few times at the Chillsnare. It groaned and roared but didn't stop.

So we were all going die.

I wasn't expecting this to happen. The Chillsnare was supposed to be dead at this point. I was supposed to be the sacrifice, not André. Tears fell down my face as I cuddled Cat close, rubbing her back gently.

The Chillsnare's tongue hung out of its mouth, panting as if it suddenly became exhausted in walking those ten feet closer to us. It bowed its head, drool dripping in bubbling ropes. Looking up, I made eye contact and the creature bellowed like a whale, leaning back to 'sit' and it wrapped its many tentacles around its stomach, whining softly. Foaming spit and blood in its mouth, teeth glistening with saliva, it lunged for a last time.

It was going to kill (and possibly eat) Cat and me, then go upstairs and find Beck. He was completely defenseless so that would be easy I hated to admit. I squeezed my eyes shut, Cat tightening her arms around me. NASA was going to have a lot of trouble explaining to the public what had happened to the six volunteer astronauts that didn't return to Earth because of an 'alien,' which I knew half of the world didn't even believe in the existence of.

The Chillsnare suddenly thudded into the ground, going limp and its jaw cracking against the floor. I opened my eyes. It was lying flat on its stomach; tentacles curled and twisted beneath its heavy body, tongue sticking out on one side and covered with dark liquids. The single eye was still open, glassy and a dull yellow.

Was it dead? Had the poison kicked in just in time?

I pulled away from Cat, hesitantly shoving my boot against the creature's noise. Some fluids were gushing from between its steak-knife teeth; on a closer look I saw it to be blood. But, maybe this was some sort of play-dead trick. It was going to wait until I wasn't paying attention and then tear me to pieces like it did to André.

"Is it dead?" Cat choked out.

"I…I think so. Come one. Let's hurry and fix this stupid machine so we can get the heck out of here." Cat wiped her of the blood that kept spilling and I took a screwdriver in my hand, not having a single idea of what I was doing.

"Put it there and twist," Cat pointed helpfully.

I inserted the tip into the top of a screw and secured it tightly into place. My fingers got zapped and cut up so badly they started bleeding and my nails were ragged and uneven. I was going to have a lot of scars from this trip. Actually, we all would; both physically and emotionally.

When Cat felt that we had finished, we stood back, watching in awe as she pressed a single button and the machine hummed to life, a bright glow coming the inside and practically illumination the whole room. That was all we needed to do for now. The other machines to help _Berglemir _specifically were left untouched, not wanting to waste any more time.

I was forced to leave the other half of André's body down in the energy room with the dead carcass of the Chillsnare. In no way would I be able to lug it all the way down to the _Jovian_, and I feel like he would've wanted to either 'go home in one piece or leave whatever was left where it was.' It ripped my heart apart knowing that he had sacrificed his life when I had decided I would instead.

We retrieved Beck on his gurney in the wall's secret compartment. The tears sparkled on his face when he saw me again in full form, only bleeding a little with various bruises and a tight smile on my lips. Cat waved to him as she opened the gate to the _Jovian_. His eyes searched for the third person, one of his best friends, and failed to find him. I looked directly at Beck.

"I'm sorry, dear. He didn't make it," I whispered. _He was the sacrifice_.

If Beck had the strength, he would've thrown a fit that destroyed the whole hall. His eyes rolled in his head madly and his breathing sped up. His stump and arm smashed against the metal gurney and he was trying to scream under the oxygen mask. Cat pumped a sedative through the machine and it quieted him enough to move him safely onto the rocket ship.

The _Jovian _was a welcome sight. The lights were fully intact and so was the engine. It was musty and cold, just the way the six travelers that started out had left it. Now there were only three. Half of the number would be returning.

Cat situated Beck in the back where his gurney was firmly tied down and he would remain asleep for the rest of the trip home. I sat down in the pilot's seat, realizing how long it had been since I was in this position. Normally, I would never fly. It would be Robbie…or André…or Beck…

Shaking my head, I pressed the communication button and a fuzzy voice began speaking frantically to me. "NASA to the _Jovian_, you have made successful contact. Report what has happened please."

It was the frantic voice of Trina Vega. How in the world were we going to tell her that her baby sister was dead? "NASA to the _Jovian_, do you copy?"

"Loud and clear," I replied, Cat sitting down next to me, various patches across her place to hold the bleeding off until she could get stitches. "We're coming back home. And you're not going to believe the story we have to tell."

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ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

After I pretty much crash-landed the _Jovian _onto the NASA runway, almost thirty people forced their way onboard to help. Beck was taken to the emergency room while Cat was brought in to get stitches for her face. The doctors insisted I go with them for a double check-up.

The last news I heard, Beck was now put in a stable condition. The doctors had tried over twenty different antibiotics to flush the Chillsnare's poison out of his system and even still had not managed to find one that worked on its own. They ended up combining three medications and it worked fine. Cat was refusing to leave her hospital room and didn't want to talk to anybody about what happened on _Berglemir_. I guessed she just wanted to be alone and was struggling to get over the loss of André.

Speaking of which, a new, small group of astronauts were heading up to _Berglemir_ to fix it up and clear it out. I warned them of the horrors they might find and they nodded grimly, understanding that it was their job to make sure the Chillsnare (as it was officially named) didn't lay eggs and wasn't about to reproduce and create an entire army of cold-blooded killers.

The public and media were interested in hearing our story directly; so in three months we had set up to do a worldwide interview with anyone who wanted to listen over the web and various news channels that would be streaming live from our video. We were asked to write our own personal speeches to present with at the end.

Our appearances hadn't changed dramatically, with the exception of Beck. I had ten thin scars on my forearms from Tori and was doing everything I could to get rid of them, because every time I saw them I could see Tori's tear-stained face as I let go of her and the Chillsnare took her out into space to consume.

Cat's face was marred with the scratches from the Chillsnare itself, but since her treatment came sooner than mine (I had the gashes for a longer time), hers were already half-faded thanks to the proper medications and healing. She usually wore a little more make-up than normal, and was working with me to find a solution to erase the scars completely.

Beck was fitted with a prosthetic left arm at his elbow. He attended therapy every day to learn how to function it like a normal arm and was very happy with the results. Since we had managed to save our wedding rings, we put his on his robot finger, proudly showing off how we _both_ managed to beat the odds and stay together even with a monster trying to kill us.

A memorial was set up at NASA to honor our three friends who didn't make it back. The ship that had traveled to _Berglemir_ retrieved the remains of André's body, as well as the Chillsnare's so research could be conducted on a real alien. André had his legs and waist buried in his coffin, while Tori and Robbie had articles of clothing and items in their graves.

Trina Vega quit her job the moment she learned Tori was dead. She was furious that NASA had not done anything sooner when they first learned that there was no signal coming from the space station, claiming that if they had acted earlier, they might've been able to save her. I couldn't argue with her reasoning, but NASA had their petty regulations after all, and pulled out contracts to show that Tori had known the risks she was taking being a volunteer of the program. So Trina walked out the door and never came back.

* * *

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

* * *

For the interview, we were allowed to wear casual clothes, mostly so we would be comfortable and it would help cover our scars. I wore long sleeves to hide my arms, but Beck chose to wear a polo shirt, completely exposing his fake limb. Cat put on a pair of big sunglasses, managing to hide about half of her scarred face behind it, and then she had a bunch of make-up thrown on the scars that did show.

We were herded into a single, dark room, surrounded by almost a dozen cameras to broadcast on the different news stations all over the world. Sitting down in the chairs, we tried to stay calm and make ourselves comfortable. An assistant came up and offered us water and towels. After that, it was thirty seconds until show time. We were reminded to be ourselves and not be afraid to let our emotions out.

The host, a nice man from some European country, came over to sit with us. The 'on-air' sign blinked red, and he smiled, looking into one camera and saying, "Here with me today are the surviving three astronauts from the space station _Berglemir_, which during its most recent orbit was overtaken by a vicious space alien called 'Chillsnare…'"

We patiently answered questions that came from people calling in and shooting e-mails to the filming studio. Many of them consisted of how we managed to kill the Chillsnare, after explaining how strong its skin was, and some of the unread comments consisted of how the Chillsnare didn't truly exist and we were making up the whole story for publicity.

I wished that had been the case, because the true tale I was telling was not something I would've been able to make up on my own in a million years.

At the end of the two hours, we were allowed to give our individual speeches of a deeply personal account or advice to the rest of the world. Cat went first, discussing how difficult it was losing her friends one by one to the vicious creature, but how important it was to keep pushing on with what was left and what you did have. I added on to her ideas, including my experience with Tori's final moments in which I almost had a breakdown but luckily held myself together. Beck went last and a perfect finish to the entire interview.

"I thought I was going to die when my arm was bitten off. I really did. The Chillsnare's poison was damaging me from the inside, both physically and mentally. I didn't want to believe that there might actually be a way out, besides death. I wanted to give up.

"But my friends didn't let me. Even when I was on the brink of absolute madness, becoming an uncontrollable animal that was so set on a single idea it was impossible to change my mind. Because they didn't give up on me, I didn't give up after all either."

My husband took a deep breath, reaching with his prosthetic arm and taking my hand, linking our fingers together. His were cold and stiff but gently bent to fit between mine.

"No matter what happens, you can't surrender to the evil. No matter what."

He looked up from the paper to glance at Cat and me, and then the cameras, a smile erupting on his face. "I guess, the best way to sum this whole thing up would be this: Don't sleep until you're dead."

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THE END.

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**Here's a fun fact on the story: Did you know that if you paid attention to these names (_Jovian, Berglemir, Chillsnare_) then you would've known from the start who lived in the end (and essentially who didn't)? Example: _Jovian_-Jade, _Berglemir_-Beck, _Chillsnare_-Cat. Those were the characters who survived. Sneaky, huh? ;)**

**I hope you enjoyed the story. No sequel, I'm sorry. But please feel free to re-read this until you understand all the _other _hints I left behind. :)**

**If anyone has any questions, comments, concerns, etc., go ahead and leave a review or PM me! I'll answer ASAP.**

**Thanks so much to everyone who stuck with this. You are all too awesome to me. :)**


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